8523 Miles
by Joei Write
Summary: During Operation: Antarctica, Private escorts Hunter back to her home over the course of 8,523 long miles. This is the story of what happened during that time, and Hunter and Private soon learn that friendship takes a lot of work, and that there will always be obstacles to hinder it. The two also run into pirates along the way, teaching them that friendship and love are powerful.
1. Let's Get Moving!

**If any of you have read my works before, especially my "What are Friends For?" Series in the Happy Feet archives, you'll know I go into super detail and exaggeration, this however is just a cute little story I thought I'd share. I also noticed how no one uses Hunter the leopard seal from Operation: Antarctica, so this is for her, she's my new favorite guest character, sorry Fred…**

8, 523 Miles

By MyWayWriter

Chapter 1

Let's Get Moving!

Hunter and Private screamed their heads off as Kowalski's flinger shot them across town and forcing them to splash down in the East River, Private landed flat on his back, but him being a penguin he brushed it off as he entered the water and spun around to look for Hunter. She, on the other flipper, was not so lucky with her splash down, that's because she went in tail first giving her an awful sting, but tried not to show it seeing as how she was tied up by Rico. As the two surfaced, Hunter shook the water out of her eyes, and looked for Private, who came up in the blink of an eye, perky and delightful as ever.

"Are you sure about this?" Hunter asked her would-be-friend. But Private used the damp ropes weakness and pulled them right off with a smile on his face.

"Let's get you home!" He said jolly like, and this made Hunter light up and take him in her mouth shaking him about, almost like she was trying to hug him.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She said very happy and joyfully, but realized she might be hurting him, so she put him back in the water with a 'plunk!' "Oh, sorry…" Hunter tried to sound sincere.

"Oof, that's alright…we're all friends here." Private said trying to catch his breath back, she had really scared him.

"So we're friends now?" Hunter asked hopefully, worried that she didn't mess things up, she really liked him as a penguin. But Private sounded uncertain for the moment.

"Well maybe not quite yet…" But then he had an idea, "But you know just the thing for that…" Hunter caught onto the idea and both of them yelled it loud in unison.

"ROAD TRIP…!" They hollered all happy and ecstatic to get started.

"So what do we do now?" Hunter asked Private, they had a very long way to go.

"Well, I was doing some reading the other day and I think Antarctica is about 8,523 miles from New York…so I guess we should get started." Private said and starting bobbing up and down in the water like the buoyant little penguin he was. "Have any ideas to make the time pass by while we swim?" Private asked Hunter, his new acquaintance.

"Well…my daddy says that singing always make stuff go by faster." Hunter said and then Private showed her the direction of South and they were off on their way singing a dandy little tune to keep them busy.

Private and Hunter: _8,523 miles_

_Feels like half of a minute_

_Over before you begin it_

_Best friends we will be_

_At the bottom of the sea_

_For 8,523 miles_

After the singing was done, Hunter turned to Private and gave him a massive smile. "That was really fun Private, I didn't know you could sing so well."

"Well you know Hunter, Skipper has us doing vocal drills incase we're ever trapped in a glass prison, you know so we can shatter the glass. I know it's strange but sometimes I just have to shut my beak and do what I'm told." It was a bad moment for Private, he was so soft on the inside.

"Aww, poor Private, I would hate if my daddy talked to me that way." Hunter sympathized for her companion.

Hunter suddenly had an idea to cheer Private up and dove under the water and started swimming around in circles, Private giggled and dove on down after her and the two friends began fooling around in a south-bound direction. This went on for a number of miles until they were tried, especially Private, so Hunter let Private ride on her back. After mile number 12, Private thought it'd be fun to keep track, Hunter stomach growled out of nowhere. Worried for her, Private swam off and quickly grabbed a fish and gave it to her, in which Hunter gobbled it right up. But in the process, she accidentally got his flippers in her mouth, it was a few nibbles and nothing bad, so the two laughed it off.

"Whew, that was close; I need those later on you know?" Private joked.

"Yeah, hey how far do you think we've gone so far?" Hunter was curious about the geography, but it was really just because she didn't wanna get caught again.

"I'm not sure let's go look." He responded and swam to the surface, but as he looked to the stars, he couldn't make out what they were. "I can't see them…" Hunter then raised an eye brow and dove under the surface, and emerged again with a small telescope. "Hunter…we'd you get that?"

"Remember that sunken boat we passed?" Private nodded, "I saw it on the deck, figured you could use it."

"Thanks, that's really nice of you…" Private tried lifting it up with one flipper but found it hard to keep his floating level even using only one flipper. She noticed, and offered to let him stand on her back.

"Um Private…? Do you need to stand on my back for a second or so…?" She offered nicely. Private grinned warmly and hopped up and stared right at the stars with no question.

"I'd say we've gone about 10 to 12 miles. So only 8,511 miles to go…" Both combusted into laughter and swam off into the distant ocean.

Back in the penguin HQ, Skipper and the others were all set and ready to depart from the base and out into the sea. Rico was just busy stuffing a few last minute things into himself and Kowalski was making a few tweaks to the submarines radar. Skipper walked by Rico and gave him 'the look' at what he was bringing.

"Rico…there's no need to bring laughing gas to Antarctica, our sub is more than capable of dealing out plenty of, blubber shredding damage to those killer carnivores, and what in the name of Hans are you bringing Dolly for? You really get that lonely soldier?" Rico saluted and shook head and escorted Dolly off the boat, Skipper then turned to Kowalski and said, "Are we ready for departure?"

"Just one thing…" Kowalski dabbled around ignoring Skipper, but Skipper what ready to blow.

"KOWALSKI…!" And he fell over from Skipper's yell. During this time, Rico reentered the submarine.

"Yes…all set and ready for action."

"Affirmative, then let's hustle out…" Skipper commanded, and after everyone put on their little sub hats, the ejected themselves from the base and were off in the East Harbor following after Private, and what Skipper called, The She Predator, and what they didn't know what that the unlikely pair of friends was already on mile 23, so only 8,500 more to go.

**Strong first chapter don't you think? Alright well I'm out for now, and sorry for not updating in a while, I've been on vacation, and I still am. But this story, I couldn't resist. So I'm out for now, it's 11:35 PM, so I'm tried good night everyone, and one more time, let's hear it for Hunter! Review if you like Hunter!**


	2. Handsome Vampire Cargo

**Go Hunter! And little Private too! He's my favorite penguin; each chapter of this story shall be somewhat divided in half, half for Private and Hunter, and the other half for well, the others, that's really all you need to know. **

8523 Miles

Chapter 2

Handsome Vampire Cargo

"Okay, how about this?" And Hunter thrush her tail down hard and made a big splash in the water getting Private's head wet and getting salt water in his eyes. After he rubbed his eyes out, he spun around back to Hunter and closed one eye.

"I think that if you were to go up and down a little faster without applying so much forced you'd be able to swim much faster. Course I'm still tried from our last race back there, so I can't tell for sure." Private had spent the last 11 miles catching his breath back, but he was starting feel relieved by just drifting in the ocean ever so often just stroking back and forth.

"Wow, I didn't think you'd still be tired after that." Hunter started, but a sudden clap of thunder forced them to cower. "Oh man, now what?" Hunter started worrying inside. Private was eager to ease her conscience.

The little penguin looked around and saw nothing but open water, so he turned to looking down instead, and below him he saw a small sea cave at the bottom, the ocean was still fairly shallow, enough for the two to stay for a time being. Private gestured for Hunter to follow him below as the first flash of lightning lit up the sky and Hunter screamed in fear, she may be tough but she's only a pup. He then was the better friend and signaled for her to follow him again, as she didn't see it the first time because she screamed, and he quickly dove down grabbing her tail and pulling her as it started to rain. They hurried themselves into the cave where they found had a small air pocket in the top, they both surface under it and stared at the ceiling of the cave.

"Oh wow, that's amazing isn't it?" Hunter asked Private, and he just shook his head in agreement at what the two saw.

"Yes, yes it is." He complied and let himself float on the surface as they kept on looking.

Lining the top of the undersea shelter was glimmering crystals and seashells, of all kind of colors and shapes. There were blue gems stuck to the walls and were smaller than the others, and cylinder like shells all clustered on the bottom. It was truly a sight to look at.

"This is so cool, there's nothing like this in Antarctica." Hunter exclaimed, and then she saw Private looking at her with a huge smile. "Thanks again Private, are we friends now?" He really didn't wanna think about it.

"I think so, maybe just a little more bonding time." He confessed, Hunter was a little upset at that, but accepted it, for it was better than nothing.

Meanwhile, in the penguins' submarine, all the systems were running perfectly fine and Skipper was sitting in his 'I'm so high and mighty' chair while Kowalski monitored the radar, and Rico was at the helm. Rico wasn't the best choice for driving, but no one else could speed all the way to Antarctica than him.

"Rico, weapons check, test fire the torpedo tubes!" Skipper commanded out of nowhere and right over Rico's shoulder.

Rico then went the press several buttons to try and fire the missiles, but there was a sound that seemed like it jammed up the tubes, and then they all heard someone scream, and to Skipper's aggravation, it sounded an awful lot like his 'dear' Ringtail. Skipper bugled his eyes and turned around to open the tube with the would be firearm in it, but opened it up to find nothing, except for a 'handsome vampire' King Julien.

"What in the name of Aaron Berg's Slappy Glove…?" **(I have no idea what he really said there, please tell me if you know) **Skipper startled to say as he looked upon a very coffin like lemur.

"Buhhh, hello…" King nuanced out as he 'rose from the dead'. "Do you like my secret royal nap-ity tube? It's dark, it's quiet and it makes me feel like a handsome vampire." Julien said and draped his arm over his face like he was wearing a countess cape. "Booo!" He muttered out in Skipper's face. No one was amused, especially not Rico.

"Shall we reverse course to dump our…unwanted cargo Skipper?" Kowalski mutter out with his shoulders down, and Rico was busy putting his favorite blow torch back in his stomach whilst making a disappointed face.

"Negative…Private needs us ASAP." Skipper ordered and grabbed Julien.

"Hey…little respect for the undead!" Julien stammered out and was pulled out of his 'secret royal nap-ity tube'.

"Ringtail…" Skipper began very sternly, "Prepare yourself for an epic journey of carnivorous peril, from which we may not return." Though it wasn't a pleasant thought, but it was the truth. And like usual, for reasons that Skipper couldn't explain, Julien sudden seemed interested.

"Ooooh…will there be the possibility of forbidden love with a beguiling lady werewolf?"

_Is this moron short of all his brain cells…or did he fall out of a tree upon birth? _Thought Skipper, but just to humor Julien, Skipper pretended to think about it.

"Hmmm…nope." Skipper was very direct to the now disappointed Julien, but he didn't seem fazed.

"Man…ok…I'm going to do my handsome vampire moopy face…" And Julien made his face, with his eyes down, eyebrows up, crossed eyes, and mouth down to the sub floor.

_In the name of Manfredi and Johnson, give me strength not to slap that face off of him so Rico can grade it like cheese and let Kowalski preform some tests on it…you know, just to be sure…_

It had been not a very long time in the cave, but Hunter was becoming restless, her instincts were telling her to move on, but her conscience told her to stay in the cave with Private. She wanted to tell him what she thought, but she was worried he'd take it the wrong way. As she was beginning to speak, and rupture was heard and both got shock and tenacity.

"What was that?" Private immediately said and watch one part of the ceiling get a crack in it. In an instant a swirling feeling was washed over the two and small whirlpool formed beneath them.

"Private…I…" Hunter started, but they were both violently torn down into the water and pulled in a southbound direct by vigorous currents, they were going south but they had been spilt up and dragged many miles in opposite direction.

**I'm so sorry for being bad at short chapters, my average is about 2000-3000 words, skipping time just isn't my thing. Just for fun, because we all know how stupidly funny King Julien XIII is, review and tell me what you think is 'wrong' with him. And do me a favor you guys, am I good at writing short chapters, it feels so wrong.**


	3. Maelstrom Riff

**I have a lot of stories in progress right now, so jumping around to all of them to update is hard, but I guess it's all easier thanks to Dragon. I recommend you go get it, this is the 3****rd**** update in two days! That's fast! Anyway, I'm going to start jumping ahead the miles a lot more, because this consists of thousands of miles and the faster I get stories done the better.**

8523 Miles

Chapter 3

Maelstrom Riff

It's a good thing that Hunter and Private were both aquatic creatures, because the violent shaking from the whirlpool would've surely drowned them. And the fact that they were being ripped violently in different directions, Hunter didn't have time to look for Private because she kept getting thrown underneath the water and her lungs keep getting washed with salt. The more and more the group parted, or the more and more they drifted apart, it became more and more hopeless. And even the fact that Skipper and the crew were nearby only made it worse. Skipper was definitely on his way, but it would be some time before they arrived. After all, there were many miles behind the pair, and seeing as how they were now split up, finding each other in the open ocean is no easy task; especially for an adolescent leopard seal and a young recruit penguin who's naïve-ness was what made him cute.

Private wasn't having an easier time on his side of the pool, but by this point it was looking more like a maelstrom. He was a penguin, so he had streamlined body made for much more efficient diving through the sharp currents, but then again his cubby fat also weighed him down a little bit, so it wasn't exactly to his favor. But it was enough to let him live; Hunter was the same, but she was not having a much easier time, she was just an adolescent leopard so she did have strength to swim in water, just not for long periods of time, and not sharp currents like this.

"Private…!" Hunter yelled, but her voice was lost in the wind, rain, and waves. Private was completely oblivious to her summon. However, just because he didn't hear her, doesn't mean that he wasn't trying the same thing.

"Hunter…! Hunter…where are you! Hunter…!" He called again, and again, and again, and still nothing. In this, what was looking to be a typhoon, there was not a chance that he could hear her, nor could they hear each other.

Back a couple dozen miles, Skipper and the others were also being wasted by a storm, only it was a different kind of storm. King Julien was driving everyone on the sub crazy from the second he made his special vampire face. First, he tried finding a suitable spot on the chairs so he wouldn't get sea sick. Then, he nearly activated the ship's self-destruct mechanism. And most recently, he went to the bathroom in the air pumps, so the whole sub smelled like…well, you know. After that, Kowalski was on the verge of choking the lemur, but was restrained by Skipper.

"Skipper…" He panted after being released, "I don't know how much more we can take. There's a 33.37% chance that he'll get us killed before we reach the Tropic of Capricorn. And beyond that…my science can even tell what antics and damage that _Lemur _catta can do!" Kowalski complained and warned at the same time.

"Tropic…Lemur…what?" Skipper asked. Like always, no one could entirely comprehend Kowalski's scientific babble. Skipper looked at Rico, and he could up a rubber glove and raised his eyebrows. "Not necessary solider…" Rico 'oh'-ed, and Skipper turned back to Kowalski. "Now you listen here, this sub is made of hardcore steel, it keeps out water, predators, and the cold. So it can handle anything, with my training, this sub could withstand any hardware problem." Skipper said confidently.

"Really Skipper…?" Kowalski started. "What about an infrared bio-ware problem? Yes, it's true that this ship is made of steel, the most fine and solid metal on the periodic table, next to iron and titanium, but unfortunately for us, the problem isn't on the outside." He concluded, just as Julien walked into the main room on all four legs.

"I see see-through fishies through that special look-ity through wall in the back where the toilet is."

"It's on the inside…" Kowalski made his point, and Rico hacked up a pocket knife and opened it.

"Slice and dice…!" Rico growled out in his usual 'I can barely understand you' tone. And he swung the blade around his head like the maniac that he was.

"I'm think about it Rico, but not just yet." Skipper came back with.

"Awwww…" Rico sighed and put the knife back in his stomach.

Skipper looked over their 'unwanted cargo' and thought that maybe if he tricked Julien into believing something that wasn't true, he might cope a whole lot more with the situation. So for everyone's sakes, he waddled over to Julien and picked him up and sat his down.

"Now you listen here Ringtail…" He said and pointed his flipper at Julien, "This is all a dream, you're really still asleep in your secret tube down there, and you think you're a penguin, a loyal, hard-working penguin."

"Oh…" Julien said in disgust and covered his face with his forelegs, "That is a very bad dream, have Maurice make me another one! But make sure Mort isn't in it…no, I changed my mind, put him in it, so I can kick him! That's really all he's good for." Skipper just sighed and turned back towards the wheel, this was gonna be a long ride.

The storm with Hunter was clearing on her side of the maelstrom, but Private was still nowhere to be found, on the side of the sun, it was beginning to show. Private was still swimming strong, but he still couldn't hear Hunter, all he could think about was what she had tried to tell him before they were swept apart. Suddenly, a very bad tong of a bell, caught the bird's attention, and he turned to see a ship coming. It was relieving, but his relief fell down the whirling madness when he saw the black flag with the animal skull with cross bones on it.

"Oh dear…" Private peeped.

**Yes, this story shall have pirates in it, because think about it! How in the world could a teenaged leopard seal and a recruit penguin swim 8523 straight with no help of any kind? It's for the story, and I promise it won't be as cliché as Ice Age 4 with that kind of crew. But that movie was very good regardless, and I have a one-shot between Diego and Shira coming up called "Inside the Wind", so be on the lookout for it! That's all for now. **


	4. Pirates!

**So my Madre recently bought myself and my Hermana tickets to Sea World, I got the inspiration to use Pirates and a whole bunch of other different Sea creatures for my scurvy crew! Like I said, I'll try not to make it the same as Ice Age 4, with the bunny, sea cow, kangaroo, badger, big ape, saber toothed tiger, and a boar, but I'll try my best. And I'm going to stop naming chapters after miles. And lastly, do you to meet Hunter's love interest?**

8523 Miles

Chapter 4

Pirates!

The ghostly ship closed in on the young recruit, Private was shaking in the water at the fact that he was being closed in on by a large pirate ship that was made of actually wood, sort of like an actual ship. The ship's starboard side pulled up against Private, and he heard a very cold, yet feminine voice call down to him.

"Hey down there…! Need some help?" The She-Voice called. Private swam back away from what he was certain was just a trick.

"Not from a dirty, dirty pirate like you!" He yelled back at her.

"Pirate…? Ha…!" The air above him was foggy due to the heat off the coast, and the storm that had just been generated, he couldn't tell who he was talking to, or what she looked like. "I'm no pirate, I'm just a humble sailor like yourself!" She kept trying to convince Private she wasn't a pirate, which she clearly was.

"Oh really…? Then explain that animal skull with cross bones on your flag?" Private demanded to know from her.

"Oh that…? That's just a little antique we picked up when he docked in Somalia." The woman tried to sell.

"Yeah right…! I'd never believe that you coward nave!" Private isn't easily angered, but when it came to clear threats like pirates, he wasn't about fall for that. "I'm not getting on board that ship, not even if…"

"Okay, okay, you've made your point…" The lady began to say, "But I'll you know that this section the seas is very shark infested."

"No it's not! I've been floating here in the water for a while and I haven't seen a single fin!" Private kept defending his position, even though the pirates had the obvious advantage.

"Okay, suit yourself, but the sharks around here tend to watch their prey for a while before striking!"

Private huffed at her last remark and began to swim away from the side of the boat. He admitted he needed help to survive this, but a pirate, or a shark for that matter would kill or hurt him for sure. Of course, the fact that Hunter was a leopard seal and didn't eat him reminded him not to judge a predator by what he was taught they eat. Perhaps if a shark came along and told him he was a strict cod eater or tuna eater, he'd have the heart, or the most naïve of minds to believe him, but the situation wasn't playing in his favor. Private continued to swim away from the boat and into the mist when he heard a small splash behind him. He looked to see nothing, on that the boat was no longer in sight, after that, he turned around and saw something in the mist. It was a very thin and slanted looking silhouette, it made a swift sound as it came at him, and then apparently went underwater.

The rain and the storm had halted, and the fact that they were still off the coast of North America made the new temperature very warm and humid, causing the dense air around Private and where Hunter was to turn into very thick fog and/or mist. This obscured Private's vision, and it made him squint when he saw the strange shape reappear.

"Hello…?" He tried saying, but no response. "Hunter…?" The name echoed through the low laying blinder.

A fraction of water was sliced, and Private could now clearly tell what it was, it was nothing less than a dorsal fin of a shark. Private began to shake in the waters causing more vibrations. This would normally attract more sharks, but Private couldn't think about that right now, all he could think about how big the monster beneath him was, and how fast that fin was coming at him. It was about a meter away when Private's paranoia got the best of him, and he did nothing but cover his head with his flippers. A dark figure rose out of the water, and Private was still just shaking,

"Private…?" It was Hunter. Private recognized her voice, and he uncovered his head and sighed with more relief than he had in a long time.

"Oh my goodness Hunter, I am so glad to see you I thought you were a…" Private was stopped when he saw Hunter's eyes widen.

"SHARK…!" Hunter screamed, and swam away in the opposite direction. Private turned around, and cutting through the fog was a real dorsal fin of what was probably a Great White.

"Ahhhhh…!" Private bellowed out and quickened his pace after her.

Together they swam in a straight line through the mist that was still hanging right above the surface of the water, and they couldn't see where they were going, all they knew was that the storm was over, and they had a shark chasing them. Before Hunter knew it, she had slammed her head into something hard, it stunned her for a moment and saw that it was some kind of wood surface, and it realizing it was a boat, she wasted no time.

"Help…somebody up there!" Private didn't notice that it was the same boat form before, but in this moment, he was surely better off dealing with pirates than a shark.

Private grabbed onto Hunter's back and held on hoping that there would be a line to grab, instead, nothing was heard, and the shark got closer and closer. Both of them were quivering in the water right behind the side of the port, but just as the shark got close enough to chomp from under the water, Hunter felt a large and hairy hand grab the end of her tail and yank her up with Private holding on to her back by the tips of his flippers. It was then that the surface of the water disappeared, and all they saw was a colossal mouth leap up and close, grabbing nothing and hearing a splash back under them. The hairy feeling stopped and they both fell onto the surface of the ship.

Hunter looked up to see a big chimpanzee standing over them, he had very large hands, he then turned to his superior and asked, "What now…Captain?" He had a very deep voice, almost like he'd been yelling too much. Hunter and Private looked over to see a large polar bear walked towards them, she then stood up on two legs and looked down on the two, she had bulky shoulders, and was very big for a female, she was also missing a claw on her right front paw. After she analyzed them with her eyes, and nose, she turned her head back and yelled,

"Peepee…!" It was the same female voice from before, Private recognized it, and then a male teenaged leopard seal crawled over to her, and in a very aggravated voice responded,

"Yes…Captain?"

"Take these two to the brig…" She then turned to the chimp, "Jervis, you come with me." The polar bear then walked off on all for legs to the head of the boat with the huge chimp following her, and the leopard seal nudged Private to get moving.

"Come on move it!" He told him, he then turned to Hunter, and their eyes accidently locked, "Uh…" He didn't know what to say, but he broke away from the gaze, "You too, get moving!" He raised his voice at her. She scoffed and along right behind Private.

The leopard seal then sighed and took a deep and realized what had just happened to him, he inhaled and tried to calm down. "Damn…" He said to himself and came up behind them to ensure they got to their cell.

**What do you think? I'm trying my best to make this different than Ice Age. The basic rundown of the pirates so far…? The Captain is a woman, and she's a polar bear, the First Mate is that male Chimp you saw, the leopard seal teen you saw isn't named Peepee, that's what his crew-mates call him. All their names will be in the next chapter, and I'm trying really hard to avoid copyrighting the concept, can have some props for that? But I'll need your help, GIVE ME A FEW ANIMALS THAT WILL BE PART OF THEIR CREW THAT WASN'T IN ICE AGE, it'll be much appreciated. Review or PM your suggestions.**

**Captain-Polar Bear**

**First Mate-Chimpanzee**

**Cabin Boy-Leopard Seal**

**The rest are up to you!**


	5. Phoenix on Ice

**Okay, thank you to everyone who PM or reviewed with helpful animal hints! The list felt a lot like Ice Age, but I guess the idea came a little too late, here's what I, and you guys, decided on.**

**Polar Bear-Elata (female) The Captain**

**Macaca-Yazid (male) Deck Hand**

**Chimpanzee-Jervis (male) The First Mate**

**Gyrfalcon-Questa (female) Lookout**

**Arctic Wolf-Lykaios (female) Deck Hand**

**Antarctic Skua-Bailan (male) Deck Hand**

**Snow Leopard-Villas (male) At the wheel**

**Leopard Seal-Phoenix (Peepee) (male) The Cabin Boy**

**So here we go with the pirate crew! And my apologizes for not bringing up Skipper in the last chapter, I wanted to focus on the pirates! And now enough of that, let's get on with the story! Peepee will introduce all the characters; their names have hidden meanings to their origins and personalities. **

8523 Miles

Chapter 5

Phoenix on Ice

Peepee pushed the two of them down below deck and made sure that neither of them strayed off in any wayward direction. It was a surprisingly large ship, for it didn't look so monstrous on the outside. Peepee shoved them down a second flight of stairs by the time they reached the only holding cell on the entire ship. The adolescent seal forced Private into the cage and looked at Hunter, she was glaring at him.

"Well don't stare at me, get in the cage!" He demanded of her. Hunter just scoffed at him, and dragged herself into the holding pen with her new penguin friend. As soon as she was in, Peepee slammed the door shut by hitting it with his tail and then he started to walk away, but Hunter was a little too hot tempered at the moment.

"So what…? You're gonna lock us up and then just take off?" She wasn't taking a liking to this boy, but he turned around nonetheless and pushed his face up against the bars of the cell, Private backed away, Hunter didn't flinch.

"Look girl, I was told to throw you in here, secure the lock on the door and then return to the deck! I have no time for unwanted cargo like you guys!" Private looked at the way the poor seal talked, he seemed like he was corrupted, not really wanting to do what he did, but followed orders anyway. Peepee pulled his face away from the side of the cage and tried to walk off again, but this time Private pulled him back using a snide comment.

"You look sort of nice to be a pirate…"

Peepee stopped right then and there, he lowered his head and inhaled deeply, just as he had on the deck after his gaze had locked with Hunter's. He stood there, seeming like he was thinking a thousand thoughts, and then just turned around and made his way back over to the prison, he kept his face away from the bars and looked directly at Private with piercing eyes.

"Look penguin…" Hunter cut him off,

"His name is Private…Peepee…" She said his name so sarcastically.

"My name isn't Peepee! That's the stupid nickname Captain Elata gave me when I joined the crew; she did that to everyone, no one remembers their real name anymore." Hunter seemed confused after he said that.

"So, your name isn't Peepee? How did she ever arrive at that?"

"I forget, I've been a part of this crew for so long. But I swore I'd never forget my real name; I feel sorry for everyone else, I don't even know their real names." The Cabin Boy seal said to his prisoners.

"But I only saw three crew members, you, Captain Elata, and that Jervis monkey." Private said with a hint of curiosity in his voice, "Who are the others?"

"We found you guys late at night believe it or not, I think everyone else was sleeping." He turned back to Hunter and Private and both of them had tilted heads and confound looks. "Oh fine, I guess since you'll be here you might as well know. Captain Elata is the polar bear you saw, she's in charge around here. She gave herself the name as a cub, it means 'The Exalted One'. Apparently she was mistreated because, according to her, she was the best and no one else could see it, so she ran away from home. Jervis, the monkey you saw is the first mate, she found him running away from a zoo in Germany, so that's why he's a chimp, but that's also why he's named Jervis, because he's of Jervis…decent." He tried to make a joke, no one laughed.

"Sorry mister, but that's not really all that funny." Private said rubbing the back of his head with his flipper trying to be courteous.

"No one thinks so, but anyway, the sleeping members you will meet are Yazid, Villas, Bailan, Lykaios, and Questa. Villas was just a teen snow leopard when they found him off the waters of Russia, apparently he was nothing but a villain to his family, so he abandoned them for a life where he could be himself, a ruthless attack dog, but when we don't dock he's the guy who steers this thing. Bailan the skua kept getting bailed out of an animal research facility in Antarctica, so when we found him he was…bailing again. He's just a deck hand, but Questa, she's an interesting one. Her being a gyrfalcon from Norway, after she learned how to fly, she left home on a, what she calls, quest to search for adventure, and then she met Elata, and now she's the lookout on a boat traveling the world. Lykaios is from the northern Arctic Circle; her parents were inbred, so as a pup she wasn't sure if she really was a wolf. At the time, the crew only consisted of Elata, Jervis, Villas, and Yazid, so when she asked what she was, Yazid responded as 'Wolf-like', so in her native language, that's what Lykaios means, wolf-ish. Speaking of Yazid, after Elata picked up Jervis from Germany and Questa from Norway, and sailing back the other way and getting Villas, she decided to return to the Atlantic side waters, and in the process of passing by, they saw a large chain of mountains on land that Villas just had to explore. While searching, Villas found a small Macaca monkey that had lost his way, and he, well…"

Hunter and Private waited, but Peepee seemed like he was having a hard time thinking of a way to word it, after a point Hunter crossed her flippers and said in a wise tone, "He what…? He Yazid-ed on the ground?"

"Actually…yes…" Both shot back at the surprise. "He urinated on the spot when he saw Villas, because I'm mean, if you're a small monkey and a snow leopard finds you…you're screwed. But yeah, that embarrassing moment earned Yazid his nickname."

The conversation was cut short by a holler from above deck, "Wake up yer barnacle infested rumps and start halting yer guts! Cap'n say we be no more than four days to our sight be free!" It was Jervis yelling at the crew to wake up and get to work like they did every morning.

"What…?" Hunter questioned out loud.

"He said it's time to get up and get to work." Peepee clarified to them. "And that we'll be arriving at our next port in four days."

"What port would that be?" Private asked Peepee in a subtle tone, trying to hide the fact that he wanted to see if he could use it to his advantage.

"We're on our little vacation spree, it was my turn to pick where we go. I picked to go home…"

"And where's your home Peepee?" Private asked. Peepee growled at him,

"I said my name isn't Peepee! And in case you're in that dire of a need to know, I'm a leopard seal, so where do you think my home is?"

"Antarctica…!" Hunter and Private exclaimed at the same time, Peepee shot them both a look of confusion and dumbfound-ness.

"Okay, yes, Antarctica…" He was stopped by Jervis calling his name.

"Peepee…you're needed on the poop deck!" Peepee held his breath, he loathed getting called Peepee.

"Yes sir, be right there!" He said and began to hurdle himself back through the ship and up the stairs.

"Wait…!" Hunter yelled at him, and he looked back, "What's your real name? And you didn't tell us your story…" Peepee bowed his head and sighed.

"Maybe some other time, and…my name's Phoenix."

"Hunter…" She said back, very slowly, like they were about to separate for life.

"Don't go crazy on me…Hunter…" He said back, like he was showing a considerable amount of concern.

"Thanks…Phoenix." Hunter said with tripled the amount of gratitude than before. After she thanked him she smiled, and he smiled back, liking the way it felt, and the vanished above the ladder and onto the deck.

**Seems there's a little leopard seal romance going on…! I promise I'll do Skipper and the gang first next time, I just had to get the crew and Phoenix out of the way. In case you're curious, all of those names are real but have different meanings. I tried making a few humorous, and others obvious, but I tried my best. Tell me if there's any crew mates you'd like to know more about, I'll throw in some more detail about them later. **


	6. Seal Chantey

**So here we go with chapter 6! I've got to say, now that I've stopped naming chapters after miles, it feels a lot better. Like this story isn't feeling super long because I don't have to elaborate on every single mile! But enough of my guff, let's get on to why you're here, and one last thing, the pirate crew…it's not gained all of its members yet.**

8523 Miles

Chapter 6

Seal Chantey

"No…no…no…no…no…no!" King Julien said as he continued to throw fish over his shoulder as he ruffled through the penguins food supply on the submarine. "Ahhhhh…! Why is there not being any fruity fruits on this underwater plane? I thought I had Maurice pack me some before I went to sleepy in my royal nap-ity tube!" He turned around and looked at Kowalski, "You…!" He said and pointed one of his fingers at him, "Smarty penguin, where has my, tummy soothing fruitys gone too, I MUST HAVE THEM!" He yelled and ran up to Kowalski and shook him on the last part.

"Ringtail…" Skipper boomed and pulled Julien off Kowalski, "You're on a highly classified vessel, so classified you might never leave just because you now know about it, but regardless, you have got to stop being so hissy!" Skipper commanded Julien, but naturally, he never listened to anything the penguins told him. Skipper raised his flipper in direction to Rico, who coughed up a violent tickle machine, after Rico held it in his hands like a murderer, Skipper showed Julien his fate, "Is that what you want to happen to you?" Julien however just giggled.

"Well…my booty does like to be tickled, especially by things that have feathers! I would like very much to be tickled, RIGHT NOW, by this uh…feathery thing…" Julien said making a turnaround motion with his finger while pointing to the tickle machine Rico held; Skipper slapped his flipper over his face.

"Stand down solider…" He said to Rico,

"Aww…c'mon!" Rico grumbled out failing his flippers to Skipper, but after no reaction he just swallowed the device and crossed his flippers disappointed. Skipper waddled over to Kowalski who had repositioned himself over by the steering wheel and said to him,

"Kowalski…I want an analysis on Ringtail's stupid meter, I'm sure it's gone up. I feel like I'm losing some of my own common sense just being exposed to this kind of stupidity." He quietly said and shook his head and clenched it between his flippers. Kowalski pulled out his calculator and graph chart from underneath the cupboard nearby and turn to Rico.

"Rico, pencil me…" He asked holding out his flipper, Rico shuttered a little, and then his next shook, but without a hitch hacked up a No. 2 pencil and spat it right into Kowalski's flipper. "Thank you…now let's see…" He drew some charts, flipped around on some other pervious graphs, nodded his head, and put his equipment down. "Sorry Skipper, Julien's I.Q. level had been the same his whole life, greatly below average…yet good enough to let him have common sense." He concluded rubbing the bottom of his beak, but then he saw Julien crawl over to a button.

"Eh…what does this thing do?" He asked and pushed it, after he did, a tube sucked him up into the ceiling of the sub, and a launch sound was heard and when the three birds looked out the window, they saw him propelling up to the surface at approximately 20 knots.

"Remember what I said about common sense…? Forget it…" Skipper and Rico looked at him like they knew the answer already, "On the positive side, you can't become less intelligent from prolonged exposure to a sustainably dull cerebral cortex, but you can get very annoyed."

(Back on Captain Elata's Ship)

Hunter moaned as she started to awaken from her uncomfortable sleeping position. She had fallen asleep with her tail under her and her flipper tucked back behind her; she had sacrificed some room and comfort to give Private more space, but her aching neck and flipper was starting to tell her it wasn't worth it. After she sat herself all the way up, her senses came right back to her as she heard a loud thud, and then a pounding of footing steps coming towards the cell, she wasn't entirely sure what to think, so instead, she just said the first thing that came to mind.

"Phoenix…?" She called out, but a shadow came around the corner, and it wasn't in the shape of a leopard seal, it was in the shape of a dog.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" It was Lykaios, the arctic wolf and deck hand, "But there be no phoenixes on this boat. We haven't even heard about those things since we picked up Peepee when we we're in Greece." Lykaios was delivering their food to them, it just looked like mush in a bucket mixed with water, and possibly insects. She threw the bucket up against the side of the bars, splattering all the food inside the cell and on the columns. Hunter just scoffed at the wolf's crude behavior, and turned to begin her 'breakfast', when she noticed something she had said.

"Wait…you got…Peepee…in Greece?" Hunter asked trying not to cringe at calling Phoenix by his nickname, the clatter of the bucket hitting the holding woke up Private, and his ear holes were ringing.

"Oh gees, what happened?" Private said groaning into a mildly awake state. Lykaios didn't seem interested in her question at all.

"Yeah, we picked up the cabin boy as a pup in Greece from a zoo that was closing down…but I don't really care about this right now. Cap'n says I'm to see you eat your dining and then haul your sorry rumps up to the deck for some work."

By this point, even though they'd been on board for less than twelve hours, they knew better than to contradicted anything the pirates told them to do. They scrapped up what food they could find off of the ground and walls and after they were decidedly done, as per viewed by Lykaios, they were snapped at and quickly moved up to the deck.

Once on deck, they saw everyone moving about; Captain Elata standing over Villas who was holding onto the wheel with both paws. Lykaios moved out from behind them and started helping Jervis tug on a rope to get the sail up. Questa flew right past them and then around the ship. Yazid was swinging from the overhanging ropes, tying loose ends and blowing out the lanterns from last night. Bailan was grabbing ropes being thrown up to him by Phoenix and wrapping them around their respective points. The whole ship seemed to be working like a clock, with everyone moving to and fro doing exactly what they needed to do with exemption.

Captain Elata came down to Hunter and Private and looked directly at them, while remaining on her four legs. "You seem able bodied, why don't you go help out Jervis hoist the sail? And you, little penguin, I think you have some good agility on you, go on and get Questa some extra eyes."

Both of them didn't move, "I don't think so miss…" Hunter ruddily answered back to the towering bear before her, after Hunter answered, Elata got back on her two legs and called up to Bailan, before she said anything, Phoenix whispered under his breath, "Bad answer Hunter…"

"Bailan…!" She called to the skua, "Get the bucket and two rags!" And the bird flew below deck and cluttering was heard, Elata then turned back to the prisoners. "Fine, instead…you'll scrub the deck until it's barnacle, and pride free…" It was an evil look, and it made Private shutter. Afterwards, she got back down on all four and yelled to Phoenix, "Hey Peepee…!"

"Yes Captain…?" He called back from his job with the ropes.

"Sing one of your chanteys for us, the two deck apes down here will need something to work with." Phoenix sighed, but he knew better than to question his captain. **(Walking in the Air-Chloe Agnew)**

Phoenix: _Walking in the air_

_Floating in the sky_

_We're walking in the air_

_We're floating through the midnight sky_

_The people down below are sleeping as we fly_

_All across the world, the villagers go by like dreams_

_The rivers and the hills, the forests and the streams_

Everyone on the ship did their assigned jobs while Phoenix sung his song. Hunter had to admit to herself, not only was she starting to actually like Phoenix, but his singing voice, even for such a crude cause as this was just enchanting to listen too.

"Wow…" Hunter said as she started to scrub, "He could be a siren with that voice…" Private looked up from his disappointing job and stared at her.

"Hunter…are you starting to…"

"No…!" She defended, and angrily kept washing the deck with the dirty old rag, but she knew that in some crazy way, Private was right.

**I tried keeping everyone in character, but Julien is really hard to write for! Here, I'll make this a little more interactive for my readers. Hunter woke up in an uncomfortable position, what's an unusual form you've woken up in? Also, what's a very, pirate like song that the whole crew could sing, and lastly, please comment on the relationship that's beginning to form between Hunter and Phoenix. Thank you for your responses to these questions, and I'll update "Better Than This" next.**


	7. A Simple Mind

**So I updated "Better Than This" like I said I would! Even though some people might hate me for it. That is my most popular story, so I've gotta do my best! But I'm back here now, and thanks for all the positive comments on the growing relationship between Phoenix and Hunter, I knew they'd make an adorable couple!**

8523 Miles

Chapter 7

A Simple Mind

The whole crew worked like dogs, excluding Lykaios, from sun up to sun down. Elata directed everyone and never really did any work herself. Hunter's flippers weren't designed for scrubbing deck tops like this, they were burning with a pain that begged her to stop, and luckily for her, she was allowed to. As she finally dropped the dirty old rag, and rubbed her flippers with some water, Phoenix went by and looked at her with a look that said 'Are you okay?'.

"How do you do all this work every day?" She asked him, thinking it was impossible for a teenaged leopard seal to handle such manual labor.

"You get used to it…" Phoenix said and kept dragging his body forward and moved. Elata then got behind the wheel and yelled,

"Alright…nice job on ship maintenance today everyone…especially you two young rascals." She said and pointed her paw with only four claws at them. Hunter sighed heavily as she continued. Alright you all know what tonight is, so go clean yourselves up, I'll do the set up myself." She announced from the helm and everyone dropped what they were doing. The six other crew members high-tailed it down into the lower decks while Phoenix came over to Captain Elata.

"Excuse me Captain…?" He started and she turned around, "I personally don't trust the two new salt dogs down there. Could you possibly send someone to watch them while they ready themselves for the gathering?" Elata just smiled, completely falling for what he was trying to do.

"Well, since you don't trust them so much, why don't you go and watch them?" Elata said with a sneer on her face. Phoenix pretended to get pissed off and lowly growled.

"Aye-aye Cap'n…" And dragged his body down the steps and over to them. Hunter was still rubbing her flippers, and Phoenix turned around to make sure Elata wasn't watching. He then picked up a rag from the ground and dunked it in the water, and slapped it on Hunter's sorer appendage. He groaned because of how it pained her, but Phoenix eased her pain. "Easy Hunter, the rags may have been rough on the deck, but they can be soft on yours if you use it right, here." He said and rubbed her limb with the soaked rag, Hunter thought it felt a lot better, whatever he was doing it was working.

"Thanks Phoenix…" She said to him with a smile, he didn't notice as Private spoke back up.

"Uh…Phoenix…?" Private peeped and Phoenix looked at him. "What is this gathering you and the Captain were talking about?"

"Every month we get together around a barrel fire on the main deck and talk about the greatest and/or worst thing we did recently. Usually, we go in the order of importance. So Elata goes first, then Jervis, then Questa, then Villas, then there's a big squabble between Yazid, Lykaios, and Bailan, and then I go. I guess since you guys are here, you'll be going after me, you know since Captain Elata thinks you're part of the crew now." This made Hunter perk up.

"Wait, so…you are gonna help us get back home?" Phoenix looked up from rubbing her flipper and stared in her eyes and then looked at Private.

"In the short time I've known you two, I've already come to care about you guys more than I do this entire crew. Hunter, you're a very high power leopard seal, I like that." Hunter blushed and Phoenix's compliment, "And Private, despite your obvious shyness, you've got more willpower and spunk, not to mention potential then all the members of this crew combined, including myself." Private giggled like a child at his comment, but the shook his head.

"No, no, no, Phoenix, definitely not including you, without you, Hunter and I wouldn't even be here. You've helped us out like a true friend and you've watched over us. I'm sort of surprised that you're not the captain of this darn boat.

"Funny you should say that, this crew is being driven by fear of Elata. She's the biggest animal on this boat, if I were captain, I'd drive by encouragement and confidence." He told them, and both knew right then that Phoenix was worthy of his name.

Following that conversation, the three moved down into the lowest deck on the boat, for that was where Phoenix's quarters was, since he was the Cabin Boy. He pulled open a closet door with his tail and from it dropped down a bed. "Oh wow…that's a step up from what the deck hands have." Private said, as he had all the deck hands slept on tightly woven hammocks on the middle deck.

"Yeah, no one knows I have it, no even the Captain. Everyone thinks I sleep on the floor." He said to them and then pulled out a barrel of water and opened the lit. "Time to wash up, don't wanna be dirty for your first gathering." It was joke, the first one they all laughed at.

They tried having fun with cleaning themselves up by singing songs, dancing around and throwing water at each other. No one above heard them and there was no one below them, so they could make as much noise as they wanted. It was about an hour or so and they were squeaky clean and shiny, it was then that Phoenix looked out his porthole and saw the sky had turned orange and the clouds had gone purple.

"If it's this late, then that means that…" He rolled eyes trailing a few thoughts, "Questa will be yeling down to get me in 3…2…1…"

"Peepee…!" They all heard her call, "Time to get your bump up here, and bring those rats with you!" They were used to getting called names by this point, so instead of fighting it, they laughed once more and headed up to the deck.

Private walked up first and flipped up the stairs happily, while Hunter tried pulling herself up with Phoenix right behind her to catch her. As she was nearing the top, her flipper slipped and she fell back, but Phoenix held out his own flipper and caught her before she hit the ground, this made her hold her like a damsel in distress with her flippers around his chest, and her staring right into his eyes. He held her by her waist, for that's where he caught her, and he stared back into her eyes, not sure of what to say.

"Uh…" Hunter just smiled at his stutter, and kissed him on the cheek,

"Thanks…" And then she pulled out of their hero/heroine lock and she climbed back up the ladder. Phoenix watched her climb up, and just smiled warmly at what just happened.

_I caught her…and she kissed me…awesome…_He thought, too happy to worry about anything at the moment.

**Little more of a romance build up wouldn't you say? This couple is really fascinating to work with because I've never done this kind of 'forbidden love' thing before. I'll be anxious to continue. And now for the interactive segment of this chapter…**

**Do you think Hunter and Phoenix should kiss soon?**

**Have you ever been in a strangely comforting position with someone you like?**

**Is Private turning into a third wheel?**

**Comment on the growing romance between Hunter and Phoenix.**

**There will be a poll on my profile involving this story, feel free to vote on it for your favorite suggestions. And if you vote, I'll give you sneak peeks into the future of this story! **


	8. If I Hadn't

**So I had a problem with the poll on my page, but the issue is all fixed! Now you all should be able to vote! Remember, if you vote, you get sneak previews into the future of this story. And also thanks for all the positive responses to the love between our favorite leopard seals!**

8523 Miles

Chapter 8

If I Hadn't

Phoenix was required by Captain Elata to watch over Hunter and Private no matter where they were on the ship, so him having to follow their every move, especially after Hunter kissing him on the ladder not five minutes ago, this'll be a gathering Phoenix knew he wouldn't forget. He dragged right behind them, as all leopard seals have to while Private waddled on in the front. But the second then broke out onto the top deck and into the moonlight, Questa swooped down right in front of Private and made him fall over from shock.

"Honestly…!" Private yelled after he picked his head up from the shame.

Questa flew up to a sail head and landed next to Bailan and gave him a wing high-five, almost like they were making a bet, or they were just being mean. "Nice one Questa, seems you've still got the sharpest talons on this boat." He said to her after their wing-five.

"If you can even call this a boat…" Questa remarked on her sea striding home.

After that, Elata stood up on two legs from her post at the wheel and told everyone to get to the center of the poop deck where the gathering barrel was. Inside the barrel was lots of kindling material and they all sat down around it so they could see each other. Private got up and was still rubbing 'The Queen's Glory' and sat on his belly instead. Hunter pulled herself over to the barrel and Phoenix got up next to her. After that Elata yelled for Questa and Bailan to light the materials in the barrel, to which both of them fell out of the sky and scrapped their talons along the side of the top rim of the barrel, causing sparks and igniting the sticks and other flammable items inside. After this was successfully done, they landed and Elata came and sat down herself. Everyone was seated, and beneath the light of the quarter moon, the gathering began.

"Welcome crew mates…" Captain Elata began. "You all know how this works, but for our two new crew hands, I'll explain. We go around in order of who joined most recently, and we talked about our thoughts and emotions from now until before we lived with each other. I'll start…as you all know, my name is Elata, Captain Elata, and I'm the skipper of this vessel." The mention of 'skipper' made Private miss Skipper and the team, "Before I was in command of this, I was a mistreated bear cub in the frozen arctic, and so, I ran away to find a place that respected me and my gifts. And as you know, through being a skipper, I've achieve those goals, and I wouldn't rather be living any other way." She stopped, and pointed at Private, "You go next Short Stuff…"

_Oh dear…he just got his nickname…_Phoenix thought to himself.

"Well…" Private was shaking because of all the animals looking at him, "I…my name is Private, and I used to be…a…member of an elite penguin force team in New York. But then I met Hunter and I decided to help her get back home, and that's when I…we…ran into all of you. And I'm…I'm actually quite scared." Private finished, but Jervis broke out.

"Boring…! Elite penguin force team, like we'll believe that! How about you, Girl Peepee…" He said and used his foot to point at Hunter.

_Whew…Jervis said it, so it's not official. _Phoenix thought about it, reminding himself that only Elata can give decided nicknames.

"My name is Hunter…!" She screamed to them, and Phoenix got excited at her confidence, "And just so you all know, I lived in Antarctica before all of this happened! I got snagged in a fishing net by two dimwits and got high-tailed all the way up to New York City Harbor, that's where I met Private." Everyone seemed interested, and Phoenix was in awe at how tough she was, "Soon after he said he'd help me get home. And quite frankly, I am very headstrong about this whole thing, because if this never happened…I never would've met you…" And pointed to Elata, "And you…!" To Jervis, and then to all the other crew mates, and then she turned to Phoenix, "And I definitely wouldn't of met…you…" She quieted down when she said this to him and said it in a way that didn't sound angry, but more like, grateful and hopefulness. "Yeah, if this never happened, if I hadn't gotten caught in that net, I never would've met you…" She said it trying to hide the emotion and the real meaning behind it, but couldn't help but draw a smile on half her face so that no one except Phoenix could see it. Elata broke the few moments of silence following her rant,

"Okay, that's enough lip outta you…Peepee, you're up!"

"Right Captain…" He breathed trying to hide the heat collecting in his face from what Hunter had secretly just said. "I'm from a zoo in Greece, that's why I was named what I was, but the zoo closed down and they released all the animals, I unfortunately wasn't ready to be on my own, and was a few meters away from drowning, but a certain polar bear mistress happened to be passing by and caught me. At first when I wasn't about joining, but Elata convinced me other wise and I couldn't be happier with my life." The last part was a completely lie to try and hide his real feelings, and then he turned himself towards Hunter. "And for the record…if I hadn't joined this crew, I never would've met…" He was suddenly stopped by a glimmer in Hunter's eye, the glimmer came from a tear, a tear of joy. "I…never would've met you either…" He smiled on half of his face too, and Hunter knew she meant exactly the same thing he did, they were just so clever with words. In the light of the fire, they didn't realize they were slowly drawing nearer to each other, their faces getting closer, a trance beckoned them, and just before their muzzles touched, Elata spoke up, not noticing how they had almost kissed.

"Well I've heard enough of this…Peepee, escort Miss Lip over here down to her cell. She needs some long thinking time, Lykaios, you go next." She directed to Phoenix with her four clawed paw.

"Aye…aye…Captain…" Phoenix said with a growing smile on his face, and nudged her to go below deck. She scurried down and Phoenix looked back to Private with a look that said, 'Hang in there…' and then retreated down below as he heard his Arctic wolf companion begin to chatter.

Down inside Phoenix's quarters, he blew out the candle at the down and pointed Hunter towards his bed. They hadn't said a word about what almost happened, but they couldn't deny they wanted it to. "I thought you were supposed to get me to my cell?"

"Nah…you deserve better." Phoenix answered and pointed to his fold down bed with his flipper. "Go ahead and use that, I'll join you later." Hunter got wide eyed,

"What…?" She said in a quiet yell, but Phoenix covered it up.

"To sleep I mean…" He said and turned back around to leave, Hunter started towards the bed, but turned around and stopped him.

"Phoenix…" He turned back through the door and looked at her, "You're not a pirate…not to me…you're much more than that." She said, her tears of joy returning to her loving eyes. Phoenix dragged his adolescent body over to her and looked right into her soul.

"Thank you…" And he gave her a kiss on the forehead, and left. Hunter was speechless, and as soon as she was in his bed, she was asleep, dreaming of nothing, and no one else.

**Sooooooooooooooooo close! But not just yet, anyway, now onto the interactive stuff.**

**In how many chapters do you want them to kiss?**

**Should someone at the gathering noticed their almost kiss?**

**Will Private approve of this love?**

**Comment on the romance some more please.**

**And don't forget to vote on the poll on my page for this story, if you vote you get a preview! Thank you for continued support, and farewell.**


	9. Scapegoat

**Hunter is falling hard for Phoenix, and he's doing the same to her. That's a major problem for the two of them, seeing as how they're on opposite sides of the crew. No this isn't a Romeo and Juliet type story, but there will be a traitor inside, can you guess who it's going to be?**

8523 Miles

Chapter 9

Scapegoat

Was Phoenix still shaken? Yes, never in his life had he kissed a girl before, and the event that he had been so close to doing so only made him shutter. He thought about how Hunter had said that he wasn't a pirate, and that made him feel very warm inside, almost like that's something he had wanted to hear for a long time. He also wasn't used to being around girls since the majority of his pirate family was composed of boys, he may have just been in a state of surprise after Hunter and Private showed up. But whatever the reason had been, there was no doubt in Phoenix's mind that Hunter liked him, not as a friend, and not as a pirate. No, not at all, she liked him as something much deeper, and much more powerful.

As he finally resurfaced onto the deck, he saw Private had returned to sitting on his rear, and Villas was next to him. Villas' tail had started circling around Private body like a snake, and it only made the young penguin shake. Phoenix saw this and wasn't about to let it go.

"Villas…!" He yelled, and the entire group turned and stared at him. "Leave Short Stuff alone, we wouldn't want him Yazid-ing on the floor…now would we?" Everyone cracked up laughing, Bailan even fell over. Phoenix wasn't much of a joker, but everyone agreed that that was hilarious. Captain Elata waved her paws in the air and tried to catch her breath.

"Okay, okay…very good Peepee…seems you have a cruel sense of humor just like the rest of us." She stopped laughing and growled at anyone else that still remained, and turned to Jervis. "Are you finished Jervis…?" And the chimp nodded, "Alright then, in that case, this gathering is officially over, everyone go to your bunks, hammocks, floor tiles, whatever it is you sleep on. We're only two days to our destination now, and I want everyone up early tomorrow so we can go full speed ahead and beat the wind to Antarctica, courtesy of our very own Peepee for the selection." She said and pointed to Phoenix, to which he gave a fake smile and bowed. After that they all dispersed, Questa and Bailan flew to their bunks below deck, Lykaios and Jervis joined the Captain up in the main room, and Yazid swung up to his little refuge in the crow's nest. Private walked up to Phoenix, while Villas leaped up over the railing and got out of sight.

"Thanks for that Phoenix, I was getting rather scared. I don't know how you do it…living with these scum." Private said and made a flipper fist with his right flipper and punched his other.

"It's hard some days, but other days you just roll with it. Get some sleep Private, Hunter is down in my quarters, go join her. You can use the linen hammock on the wall."

Private saluted Phoenix his gratitude and belly slid down the stairs and out of sight. Phoenix then looked around and saw the moon still high in the sky, and the wind was blowing. He then turned to join his friends himself, when Villas hopped down from his perch where he had seen everything.

"Getting close to Short Stuff and Miss Lip are we?" Phoenix began to panic inside his head, but remained calm on the outside.

"I don't know what you're talking about Villas…" He said sternly, but Villas looked right through him.

"Don't play coy with me…Phoenix…" Villas called him by his real name, this sent more shockwaves through his body, "I saw how you were almost sucking tongues with her at the gathering, I'm surprised no one else saw it!" He started circling around the leopard seal, his heart getting faster and more violent. "You are falling for her, hard too. You can't hide this kind of thing…" Villas said and then stopped in front of him and looked him dead in the eye, "What are you planning to do with her? I don't think it's any coincidence that's she from Antarctica, and that's exactly where you're from too!"

"Shut up Villas…you don't know what you're getting into…" Phoenix defended himself, but his snow cat combatant refused to back off.

"You're gonna run off with her and the penguin aren't you? Once we reach Antarctica…you'll leap over the side of this ship, and we'll never see you again. I'm right, aren't I?" Phoenix looked away and pouted, but it only fed Villas' case.

"What'll it take to keep your mouth shut about this Villas?" Phoenix asked him. But Villas just grinned, "Oh why do I even bother…" Phoenix said before Villas spoke, "You're a pirate, you'll do whatever you want anyway." But Villas just gave him an evil grin.

"You're a pirate too…Phoenix…" He said his name sarcastically, but Phoenix retaliated.

"No I'm not…! I've just been playing one…now…" He attempted to reason with the villain. "How do I keep your mouth shut?"

Villas snorted, "I want in…" Phoenix got wide eyes at his proposal. "I want in on your plan for a jail break."

"Why…?" Phoenix questioned him.

"Because…" He began, and he sounded sort of like he was whimpering, "I can't take living on this boat anymore! There's like no places to run, jump, climb…nothing! I need space, I'm a cat for crying out loud!" He complained, Phoenix understood, but still wasn't fully trusting.

"How can I trust you…?" He asked, but Villas shrugged his shoulders.

"Do you have a choice? I could always tell Elata and rat you out." Phoenix groaned,

"Fine you're in…I'll tell you the plan when we reach Elephant Island." Phoenix said and began to pull away, trying to go below deck, but Villas grabbed his tail and stopped him.

"Phoenix, were not going to Elephant Island." But Phoenix just turned around and gave a mischievous grin to his cat cohort.

"Yes we are…" He said and pulled out of Villas' grip and headed below deck to his cabin and the bottom of the ship.

When he entered, he saw Hunter asleep on his bed and she was tossing and turning, while Private was sound asleep, not moving a muscle on the hammock. He then crawled over to his bed cover and pulled himself up, it was then that Hunter rolled over again and her flipper made contacted with his chest, and she grinned in her sleep.

"Phoenix…I knew you'd come…" She whispered, and nodded her head. "I'm happy we almost kissed, want to do it for real now?" She said, and wrapped her flippers around his neck, "I'm waiting…" Her sleep controlled self said. Phoenix was tempted beyond belief to do it, but broke out of her grasp thinking if he did, it would only be wrong. Hunter was talking and moving in her sleep, and Phoenix found it to be charming, but worrying at the same time.

_No…_He thought, _Not yet…I can't become attached, not now. _His trail of thought kept hiking as he got on his side and laid down, trying not to freak.

Private wasn't asleep, and he heard the whole thing between the awake Phoenix and the sleeping Hunter, and before he really tried to fall asleep, all he could say was. "Oh dear…not again…"

**You didn't think I'd actually have them kiss while she was asleep did you?! That would be so creepy and weird! And yes, Villas is the inside man, but loyalty is up for question wouldn't you say? But regardless, here's…**

**Do you think Phoenix can trust Villas?**

**Does Phoenix really care about Hunter, or is he just using her?**

**Will Private get involved in the romance to try and protect Hunter?**

**How do you think Phoenix will manipulate Elata to get to Elephant Island?**

**Remember to answer all this and you'll win a free preview. I'll try to update "Better Than This", I know you're dying to find out what happens after the last update, Age = **


	10. The Puppeteer

**I got a very mixed number of reviews from other authors, and they're sort of getting into a dispute over whether or not Phoenix is using Hunter, or if he really does care about her. I'll be the bearer of bad news on this one and say, you'll find out in this chapter if he is or isn't. Private heard the conversation they had, and his past will be dipped into a little more, but Villas is still half and half on loyalty. **

8523 Miles

Chapter 10

The Puppeteer

A decently sized wave crashed against the side of the boat and made it sway to one side. Some of the ocean spray crept its way through the porthole above the hammock where Private was sleeping and flew inside the room splashing Private's face and Phoenix's back. Private instantly woken as more sea mist came in through the now opened port hole and Phoenix shot up at the sudden chilling feeling on his back. Phoenix turned around and saw the port hole flying from side to side making loud thumping noises. Phoenix turned to Hunter next to him and saw she was rolling around again, he covered her ear holes as softly as he could and turned back around to Private without moving his flippers off of her.

"Private…! Get that thing closed! She'll wake up…!" Private jumped to his feet and nodded and got behind the porthole and kicked it hard, causing it to slam against the opening and wedging it shut. It caused another loud and unnecessary noise, but the room was quiet again, and Hunter was still asleep.

Phoenix gently took his flippers off of her and came down off his bed and came over to Private, to which Private hopped down and looked up at him. "Good job…"

"My pleasure to help…!" Private said. "Besides, you helped too! If you had been sleeping on the other side, she would've gotten wet and we all would've woken up." Phoenix smiled, Private was right, and then he looked out the window. He saw the ocean was very foggy around the ship this morning, signifying that it was still early in the morning.

"Hmm…waves like that never occur at this hour. I should go check it out." The seal announced and began to leave, but Private stopped him.

"May I come with you? I'd like to speak with you about…something…" This made Phoenix stop, but he just let it go.

"Alright…" He said to him, very confused about what Private would want to talk about.

They made their way up to the boat deck, and once they got out, the entire poop deck was empty, apparently no one was awake yet except for them; convenient for scheming, or for just talking. Phoenix couldn't see past the bow of the boat, and when he looked over the side, he could barely see the water below.

"Hmm…nothing." Phoenix said, in a bewilderment about the mysterious waves. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about Private?" He asked in a nice way.

"Oh…yes…well um…" He tried thinking of a way to put it without sounding crude. "I heard Hunter talking in her sleep last night when you came in. Did that make you…uncomfortable?" He started. Phoenix raised an eyebrow, and tried to hide his mischief on the matter.

"Uh…it was weird…" He started lying, "But…it's not something I wouldn't do…"

"Oh…okay…just making sure. I know that there's a lot of nasty pirates on this boat, but you seem to be much more…nice. Like you really care about Hunter, for that, you're a great friend." Private said with his lunacorn face.

This made Phoenix's blood boil hotter than the feathers of the bird he was named after, and his guilt reading shot through the sails above him. "Trust me Private, once you get to know me…I'm not that great. I might even be…" He tried thinking of a word, but Private got a frown on his face as his lunacorn face melted.

"A puppeteer…?" He whimpered putting his flippers to together and getting big eyes. "You're…you're not using her are you?" But Phoenix looked away in an ashamed face, but that did nothing but clinch it. "What…you are using her!" Private said getting his angry face on, and beginning to get louder. "You've been doing nothing but swaying her this whole time! I thought you cared about her!" But this made Phoenix go ablaze.

"I do care about her Private! More than you might think!"

"Really…?"

"Yes…"

"So much you'd fool her into thinking you loved her? That way she started hoping that when we got off this boat you'd come with us?" Private questioned, but Phoenix's eyebrows narrowed.

"Enough…" But he loosened up, the thought of hurting Hunter made him soft, "To not get attached to her." This made Private calm down a bit and get more interested. "If Elata found out about our plan, and she knew I fell in love with Hunter, she'd punish me by doing something to her, like feeding her to the sharks, or letting Lykaios and Bailan pick her clean of her meat." Private shuttered at the images. "Yes…I admit it Private, I was using her. But I can't love her…for her own sake."

Private walked up to Phoenix and patted his nose, "You say you can't love her…" And Phoenix nodded, "But it looks like you fell for her anyway. And now…everyone is going to get hurt, including you." Private said and walked off, he thought this was exactly like the porthole, one problem, and if one circumstance had been different, the outcome would've affected everyone. In this case, Phoenix and Hunter, instead of just Hunter.

The mist was still shrouded around the boat as it creaked along with the motion of the waves it rested on. Phoenix wandered the top deck, angry and in doubt of what had just happened between him and Private. He was so mad; he began to speak out loud just to see if he wasn't the one who was crazy.  
"I didn't do anything wrong! Why is he being so egotistical about this? What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Yes, to him, it still sounded crazy. "I want Private to understand, but how will everyone else take this? Elata would use it, Villas would freak, and I don't even wanna think about how Hunter would react." A sudden splash brought his attention to the side of the boat and he looked over. A fin shaped tail broke the surface and retreated back down, "Hello...?" Phoenix said to the murky, Antarctic water beneath him. After a few moment of no response, he just sighed. "Strange…maybe a chantey will help." He loved to sing a tune once in a while, but all he could muster was a sad tune. **(Me, the Masked Man-Joei "Age" Spyro)**

Phoenix: _Everyone that's been in my place knows_

_Just how hard it is to go through life_

_Without hurting the ones you love_

_Sometimes it's easier to just…_

He paused, for the lyric hurt him, but he sang it anyway.

_Put on a mask and hide from the world_

_Without a mask it's so easy to be hurt_

_So I guess that's just me_

_The masked man _

He was wrong, the chantey only made him feel guiltier about using Hunter and lying to Private. They had trusted him, and he was falling in love with her, but he couldn't let that happen. If he developed an emotional attachment to her, it would only hurt her in the end. He knew this, so he decided to prove how much her cared about her, by making her think he didn't, this way, she'd be safe.

"That was beautiful…a little dark though…" A squeaky female voice said. Phoenix looked up from his profound thoughts about Hunter and looked around.

"Who's there…?" He asked into the fog around him. He heard his answer from over the side of the boat.

"Down here…" He went over to the side and looked over, and he saw a dolphin's head half way out of the water and smiling at him. "You have an amazing singing voice. I just wish you'd sing about some more positive stuff."

"Who are you?" Phoenix asked the mammal, suddenly confused about her presence.

"I'm Sweetie Bell; I've been following you and your ship since that leakage problem in the bottom floor. Now every night, I sleep in that hole in the side of the boat." She said.

"You know about that?" Phoenix asked her.

"Yep…I know how to get to Elephant Island from here too."

This made Phoenix grumble, but saw it as a chance. "Fine you can be our guide when the time comes, just be a fallow for now okay?" Sweetie Bell nodded and disappeared under the water.

_What've I gotten myself into…? _He thought.

**Sweetie Bell is actually a combination inspiration name from Sweetie Belle (MLP) and Tinker Bell (TB), the name sounded cute for a dolphin. No, there will be no Dr. Blowhole in this story. And yes, I'm sorry, but Phoenix was using Hunter.**

**How will Hunter react when she finds out?**

**Is Phoenix really gonna go through with this?**

**What significance does Sweetie Bell play?**

**How does Elephant Island play a role in Phoenix's plan?  
**

**I'll be on a long car ride tomorrow, so an update might not be for a while. I'll keep writing as soon as possible. And for the record, 'fallow' wasn't a typo, the word means (to not use; inactive). Just so you know, thanks again and don't forget to vote on the poll. **


	11. Carats

**Yeah, I'm sorry everyone, but I'm afraid the answer is yes. Phoenix was using Hunter to manipulate the crew for his plans to get to Elephant Island. On the plus side, you know that even though he was using her, he still really does care about her. So I'll be making a few adjustments to the story line, but nothing serious, and this chapter will also give me a chance to show off my skills in the field of gemology…**

8523 Miles

Chapter 11

Carats

The submarine was just speeding along through the ocean, though not nearing its target, it was still moving at a considerable movement velocity. Rico was steering the vessel while Kowalski just idolized and watched as Rico got to have all the fun controlling the ship. Skipper sat in his comfort chair and made sure everything was running smoothly, he checked everything with his eyes, along with the occasional, 'Kowalski…status report!' every here and there.

A few schools of fish pasted by them inside the sub and they watched out the bow for oncoming obstacles, but when you're on a boat with King Julien XIII, he _is_ the obstacle. This was proven shortly after Kowalski's face had finally drooped from boredom and just blatantly stared out the window into the sea. Skipper was hunched over in his chair and paying close attention to what was in front of him, not behind him, and Rico was just, being Rico.

No one saw the lemur's head pop up over the Skipper's right shoulder and grin with his stupid idea jumping around in his head. He quickly vanished back behind his hiding spot and climbed up onto the ceiling, and seconds late dropped right down on Rico's head, causing him to grunt and fall down from the shock. Skipper shot back at Julien's sudden act, and Kowalski was ready to say something, but two seconds too late.

"DO A BARREL ROLL…!" Julien screamed and grabbed the wheel and turned it violently to one side causing the whole sub to spin in circles as a reactant to the motion. It was a swift turn, and no one had time to time.

Inside the sub, Julien was laughing hysterically at the very, roller coaster like ride he was having, unfortunately, he was holding onto the wheel, meaning no one else was sturdy. The three penguins rolled around the walls, bouncing and hitting against one wall, smacking off of it, and doing the same to the others in a rotation which followed right behind the other. Skipper had been thrown off first, Kowalski was getting a beaten next in line, and Rico was having a headache already from Julien jumping on his head, so his cortex was being punished for something right now.

After they stopped, Julien tried to catch his breath from all his loud laughter, and Skipper tried standing up, but felt wobbly and fell back down. Rico didn't bother trying, and Kowalski was back on the ground, staring at the ceiling and was getting a welling feeling in his stomach.

"I think my pharyngeal reflex is kicking, I'll be regurgitating the bluefin tuna in a few…" He stopped mid-sentence and covered his mouth as his cheeks got big. Skipper sat back up and rubbed his head,

"You're what…?"

"To the average mind…" Kowalski started as he began to rub his stomach, "I supposed it'd be called the 'Gag reflex', the muscle contraction of the back of the throat in which helps prevent choking of food once it's been salivated, and sometimes, like this one, it'll cause recently digested food to…" He didn't need to say anymore after that, Skipper and Rico looked away.

(Back on the ship)

Phoenix schlepped himself across the deck after his talk with Sweetie Bell and came up the stairs. As bad as he was feeling at the time, he had to start speaking to Elata and Jervis about this side trip now if ever. He climbed up the stairs to the boat and came up to the Captain's door. At first he was hesitant, but knocked anyway, and a very cranky chimp swung the door open.

"Who's out…" He saw who it was, "Oh…it's just the Cabin Boy!" He called over to shoulder. Phoenix snuck a peek by him and saw a pile of gems, of all colors and each one seeming to be a different size. Elata was sitting on her rump sniffing and counting the stones, while Lykaios was seen sleeping in another hammock on the side of the wall. Phoenix was let in and walked up to Elata, who was holding up a pearl in one of her paws and a more pinkish looking rock that seems denser than the other. Elata was bring the pink one to her nose and was readying to sniff, but Phoenix stopped her,

"Whoa there Cap'n…I won't do that…" She looked at him like a rug to her door.

"And why not?" she asked sternly.

"Well no offence Cap'n…but that's Cobaltocalcite…it has a very high amount of cobalt in it, if you inhaled more than 20kg of the oxides of that, due to the buildup of nickel and copper that most likely formed around it when it grew, you can have a chance to get contact dermatitis, that'll cause the skin around your nose to swell and will probably screw you up for a while." Elata looked at him like he just spoke a foreign language. "That rock has a chance to give you pain in your nose if you smell it…" Phoenix simplified for her.

"Oh…hmm, well thank you Peepee…" She then put the pink rock down, and she pulled the pearl to her mouth, but Phoenix stopped her again,

"Uh…"

"What now…?"

"That's a pearl, it looks really pretty, but because it grew under the pressure of water inside an oyster's shell, the bacteria build up would be colossal. Not to mention the possibilities of toxic materials absorbed by the water when it formed."

"Okay, that I understood. You're not in school anymore Peepee…you don't have to sound so smart." Elata reminded him and pull both of the gems down and directed her full attention to him.

"Yeah, I know…anyway…we have problem below deck." Elata got very interested, "It seems the hole in the port side we fixed up has started leaking again. I'm not sure how, but we need to stop and make repairs, the motion of the water is going to make it impossible while we're still at sea."

"Well…who did this?" She asked him, Jervis hadn't said a word the whole time. "It must've been Miss Lip and Short Stuff, Jervis…go…take care of them…" She said and the monkey started to leave, but Phoenix stopped him without moving.

"No…no…!" He yelled waving his flippers, "They didn't do it I assure you. The problem caught my attention right before I came up for the gathering, and during that time I was watching them, and before that they were in their cell."

Elata rubbed her chin, "Okay…fair enough, what do you suggest? After all, you're in charge of what happens below deck." Phoenix smirked very slightly, trying to hold in his satisfaction.

"Luckily for you Cap'n…there's an island nearby we can stop at and make repairs!" Elata seemed critical about it first, but returned the favor back.

"Alright fine, Jervis…" He turned to her, "Have Villas check that hole in the morning, we don't want any more leakage. And you Peepee…" She said and pointed at him with her four clawed paw, "You can go to sleep, dismissed…" She said and picked up another gem.

Phoenix walked out and Jervis slammed the door, and all that was going through Phoenix's mind was, _There we go easy as planned, now it's all up to my will. _He knew what his will would allow, _I just hope Sweetie Bell comes through…and Hunter._

**See…! He cares about her, he stopped her and Private from getting a beating! But anyway, I'm not an expert gemologist, but that's a little taste of what I know, pretty cool in my opinion.**

**Did Elata just give in that easily, what's she up to?**

**Is Hunter still dreaming about Phoenix kissing her?**

**Can Phoenix bring himself to tell her himself?**

**What will Villas do about the hole where Sweetie Bell is sleeping?**

**Answer and you know what happens! Later…!**


	12. The Elephant and Muscovite

**Believe it or not…but I actually got a PM from an 'anonymous' author who said that they find the science of gemology to be quite interesting. Apparently they had no idea about pearls containing bacteria, or the fact that they even knew Cobaltocalcite existed. So by request, I'll put a little more gems and their periodic structure along with it, I guess some people fine the field interesting. So here comes some more in my minor field of gemology…**

8523 Miles

Chapter 12

The Elephant and Muscovite

_Hunter laughed like she was a pup again as she swam through the frigid waters nearby her home. The trip had gone swimmingly, and Private was just having a friendly game of tag with her. "You'll never catch me Private!" She screamed to him through the water and smiled._

"_Want to bet!" He yelled as he chased her all over and around the frozen chunks and wads in the water. Hunter turned a corner and saw a narrow passage, but there wasn't enough time to slip in, she had heard Private coming up behind her. Out of nowhere, she heard a very warm voice call her._

"_Hunter…!" She turned and saw her male seal love. "This way…! Come on…!" He said and swam away into hiding. She dashed through the water and got into cover with him as they watched Private rush by with a persistent look on his face. _

"_Thanks Phoenix…what would I do without you?" Hunter and wrapped her flippers around his neck and cuddled up with him. She felt him smile and squeeze his own flippers around her back and pulled her close. _

"_Well…I know one thing you can't do without me…" He said to her, his voice causing soothing vibrations to echo around the water under the ice where the hide. _

_Hunter looked up to him, and she was like a magnet, the power and hypnotizing sense his eyes emanated to her, beckoning her to draw closer. Without a moment's hesitation, she got closer to him, and he pulled himself in as well, she could feel the water disappearing between them, and she wanted it so much, only seconds away from kissing the seal she loved so much. Despite how young she was, this was one of the best things she had ever had, but the time was cut short, as she heard another call out to her. She turned and saw Private at the opening to their hiding._

"_Hunter…!" He called, and in a moment, it was over._

Hunter shot up from Phoenix's bed and was panting, and felt herself getting very warm and embarrassed. She turned to a confused Private standing on the bed next to her, his look was telling her to say something. "Private…what happened? Are we to Antarctica yet?"

"No…we're…at…uh…" Private didn't want to come right out and say it. "We've stopped at Elephant Island. We have a leak that needs fixing." As soon as he said that, Villas walked in the door to the room with Phoenix, at the sight of the seal, Hunter blushed.

"We've arrived at the island. Just like the plan said…" Villas said to them, Phoenix standing and looking proud of his tactics. "Seems that dolphin friend you made pulled through, she got us there over night."

It was true, after Phoenix had finished his conversation with Elata the night before, he had got Villas and the two of them were awake all night following Sweetie Bell's direction to get to the island.

"I had a hunch she would, now what to do about that hole?" Phoenix asked out loud. Everyone onboard was still sleeping and Elata had instructed the hole be repaired at morning by Villas. "I guess we'll have to get off the ship and look at it like we were asked, and then after that, I'll think of the next step."

"What…?!" Private yelled at the seal and his snow cat cohort, "You thought up a plan to get us there, but didn't consider what would happen after?"

"Calm down Private, I know how this'll work. I may have just skipped a phase; phase one, get supporters, phase two, get to Elephant Island, phase three, get Elata off the…boat…" As Phoenix said his phases, he clearly got an idea.

"What are you thinking over there Phoenix?" Hunter asked him after she had gotten down off the bed and crawled over to him with Private by her side.

"Follow me…" He said and then went over to the window and opened it up, "Sweetie Bell…!" He called, everyone not looking out the window heard a splash and then a dolphin cackle.

"Yes Phoenix…?"

"Are we set to get off?" He asked with high hopes.

"You're all set my friend!" She called back.

"Let's move…" Phoenix said and crawled out the window and they heard another splash.

Private gave Phoenix a glare as he leapt out the porthole, and then turned to Hunter, and she was smiling. "I'm not waiting, that looks like fun!" she said and got up to the window and jumped out too. Villas and Private both heard a 'Woo-hoo!' from outside and then a third splash. It was after that that Villas looked at Private,

"The things a cat will do for freedom…" He said and hurled himself out the window.

Private rather not think about the noise he heard Villas make that followed the splash. All he knew was, afterwards, everyone was laughing. Private flipped over to the window and stood in it, and looked down; everyone was waiting, staring up at him and anticipating his jump. Private closed his eyes and dove down, the fall was a lot longer than he thought and so was the water. After he hit it, he swam up to the surface and looked around to everyone, and then stopped on the dolphin.

"So you're the Sweetie Bell that brought us here?" The she-dolphin nodded, proud for her navigation skills. "Nice to meet you…now can we get out of the water?" Private hadn't been in water for a while, and he found it to be very cold. Everyone nodded and climbed out onto the nearby rocks and up onto the official Elephant Island. After they got out, Phoenix turned back around to Sweetie Bell.

"Keep an ear open for an movement on that ship. If anyone starts to wake up, tell us." Sweetie Bell nodded again and dove back under the water and appeared to swim under the ship.

Once they all turned away and looked around, the rocky, craggy shore that had docked on was very foggy, and they couldn't see very much. Phoenix looked around and turned to Villas, "Enjoy it buddy, this is the closest thing to freedom you'll get so far."

"WHO CARES…! I'LL TAKE IT…!" Villas screamed and ran off into the fog and stretched his legs, he was out of sight and Hunter just shook her head.

"He's such an egghead." Not a second after, they all heard something crack in the distance, and their attention shot to the direction where Villas had ran off.

"Uh…guys…" The heard him whimper. The hurried over to him, and once he came into sight, the saw him standing with his tail in-between his legs. His feet all close together, and his ear were flat, frantically looking around on the rock beneath him. Every time he made a motion of any kind, a crack was heard. Phoenix took a closer look at the rock formation he was standing on, and his eyes grew their own fear.

"DON'T MOVE…!" He yelled, "You're standing on muscovite…"

"Musco-what?" Villas asked him with his head not moving.

"Muscovite, it's a very thin rock formation that has an average hardness of 2.25 and even the slightest weight change can make it break and collapse within itself. Most commonly found in what humans call India; seems you've stumbled upon a gray, white shaded type, that means the density is very, very, thin. To get off you have to keep four paws on the ground at all…"

Phoenix's geology lesson was interrupted by Villas freaking out and dashing across the rock. As he ran, the rock behind him cracked and fell down into a pit. The rock before Villas was beginning to crack as well, so Villas put all his weight on his back legs and jumped for his life across a five yard distance. He landed on his side as the last of the rock broke and fell, and Phoenix gave him a glare.

"Keep four paws on the ground at all times?"

Villas just smirked a weak smile, and then turned to the new pit in front of him. "Ideas anyone…?" Hunter asked. Phoenix kept staring into the hole, and smiled,

"Idea…!"

**Muscovite was mentioned in "Journey to the Center of the Earth", so it's a semi-known rock formation that falls under the group of gems for its valuable qualities. So that's another lesson in gemology from me, and here's the question, and Little Christian, I hope you can answer these.**

**What is Phoenix's idea?**

**Did someone on the ship wake up from all the noise?**

**Why did Private give Phoenix a glare?**

**How much does Hunter love Phoenix after the dream she had?**

**Answer, and you get a free preview! Later!**


	13. All Burned Out

**My apologies for not updating in a while, but school here in PA just started and seeing as how I've started cyber school the first time it's really confusing. So this is chapter 13, and I really appreciate all the reviews and comments that I've gotten so far. Before you read the chapter I'd like you to take a look at this…this made me laugh out loud. In a review answer for the question "What is Phoenix's idea?", There was a reader listed as 'Guest' who reviewed and said this…**

**1. To make Hunter his wife. **

**2. Yes, I think it was Private who woke up from all the noise.**

**3. Private gave Phoenix a glare because he thinks Phoenix is evil.**

**That made me laugh out loud! Especially the part about Phoenix making Hunter his wife; he's getting there, but not just yet! Anyways, here's chapter 13!**

8,523 miles

Chapter 13

All Burned Out

In the center of the ship, where Elata was sleeping, tossing and turning on her hammock, near her pile of jewels and discarded rocks, her sleeping figure, though still very keen, picked up the sound of cracks and shattering, as if something was collapsing nearby. She awoke from her steady slumber and got off her bed, stretched her arms, and her paws; especially her one paw that only had four claws, and yawned a nice big polar bear yawn. The noise was over powering to her half-witted ears, this was due to the fact that she had just woken up. She sat up from her hammock and stretched her shoulders while looking around the room as the boat was still sitting on the water, the waves rocking and the black waves splashed up against the side of the boat creating a water stain that encrusted yet more barnacles to the side of its old, and rickety side.

The magnitudes from the impact of the forced water below made Elata sit up all the way and, eventually, forced her to get out of her hammock. She opened up the door to the Captain's room and walked out onto the banister. As she walked down the staircase that lead up to her door, in the distance she heard one of her crew members yell. "That was close…" She couldn't make out who it was, but the fog and mist was still density in the air due to the cold. She couldn't even see the rough snow on the jagged landscape.

It still being undeterminable what time of day it was due to the thick haze, but Elata went to Jervis and shook his hammock, shaking him and taking off a few his shoulder hairs. While she constantly tried to push him out, she said, "I think the cabin boy needs our help Jervis…" He was only half awake, but after hearing this he shot right up and jumped up, put his hat on, and did his monkey swing out the door to grab supplies. Lykaios was awoken by the she-bear as well and was gnashing her fangs ready to care for whatever was hurting her fellow crew member. The three of them hurled themselves off the side of the ship and landed flat on the rocky landscape, Elata jumped off the banister ship first, Lykaios sailed with her two back feet leading and landed on the solid ground in a feet first position and looking up, snorting angrily. Jervis grabbed a rope and swung off the boat, landing on the hard ground and readied himself for whatever made their young cabin boy shriek. Lykaios sniffed the air and pointed with her nose in the direction she smelled Phoenix's scent. They took off, but not before Elata mumbled, "We're coming for you…"

Near the broken slate of Muscovite, Villas, Phoenix, Hunter, and Private all their three brains in a ramble, and confusion was going through Phoenix's head. Was that it's time for the plan? Finally, he decided to hold off on it because he wasn't quite sure how Hunter would react, "Sweetie Belle…!" Phoenix yelled back towards the direction the team had come from. The four of them heard her splash assumed that Sweetie Belle had disappeared beneath the water like she was supposed to, and in the haze they saw the three silhouettes. Elata was wearing a hat apparently, and she had rushed up to help. Jervis was carrying a rope around his torso and Lykaios, well, she just brought her fangs and claws. Elata charged at Private and Hunter, knocking both of them over and striking terror into Hunter's eyes. As her eyes widened, Phoenix and Villas were left untouched Lykaios, for her fangs were at Hunter's throat, Jervis tied both of them with the rope and gave the 'okay' signal to Elata, who walked up to Phoenix and Villas.

"Are you two okay?" Elata asked her 'faithful' hands of the ship. Phoenix and Villas had surmised a plan for this exact situation, but the muscovite was just a draw back and set off the plan a little early. Nonetheless they could work with it and faced down Elata. Phoenix was the one who took charge with the role of speaking to the ursa as Villas walked over to Jervis with Lykaios and looked to them and whispered. "Make sure they don't hear this…" Referring to Hunter and Phoenix, to which Jervis and Lykaios dragged them back towards the ship and out of hearing distance. Villas then walked back over to Phoenix and sat down next to him before he spoke to their captain.

Phoenix exhaled like he was relieved and stared down Elata, "Thank you Cap'n, the two of them almost had us trapped in that hole with the rock over it. Good thing Villas can run fast over that kind of stuff otherwise he'd be down in there." He wasn't acting, he didn't have to when telling her this.

"So they are traitors! They must've tried to kill you while you were off scouting the shore…which I'm sure Villas told you to do." Elata began to blame and gave Villas a glare, which he coward at, but Phoenix quickly covered up for his friend.

"No…no…not at all Cap'n; I was forced off the ship by those two! They got off of the ship and took us as hostages." This was the reason Villas told Jervis and Lykaios not to let Hunter and Private hear him. "We were on our way further in-land and then you guys heard that rock crack, which I sure would've been our grave had you three not show up!" Phoenix tried to sound flattering by giving her a dumb smile with minimal teeth showing, creating the illusion he was nervous around her in the moment, which he really was, but didn't show it.

"Of course it would've!" Elata proclaimed, buying the whole story and totally trusting her cabin boy. "Let's get you back on the ship…and you to Villas." And so the three walked back to the ship and climbed aboard. Hunter and Private were untied from their ropes and were being held down in place by their respective crew member, Jervis for Hunter, and Lykaios for Private. Both were struggling to get free, not understanding why they were in this position. As Elata took noticed of the two, she gestured for Phoenix to get by her side. After he took a stance beside her, she looked at her two prisoners.

"Shameful really…" Private looked at Hunter, she was getting scared at the issue. After their glance, they both directed toward the bear captain, calming down and relaxing in the process. "I take you onto my ship, I treat you with better respect than most probably would, and yet you repay me…by trying to murder two of my most loyal and helpful crew members." Both of the two friends instantly knew what she was thinking, and Hunter glanced over to Phoenix who was sitting there with an evil smile on his face.

"We did no such thing!" Private yelled starting to struggle again.

"It wasn't us…" Hunter complained, but Elata silenced them.

"You really think I'll believe the word of a prisoner over the word of my crew? Peepee himself here told me that the two of you tried to kill him and Villas… and that is something I believe!"

Hunter's world froze around her like the sub-zero tundra of her home. She wasn't breathing, nor moving at what she had just heard…did Elata really just say that Phoenix told her that they had tried to kill him? After all that the three of them had been through? Did he really just stab her in the back? Hunter started hyperventilating at the sudden situation, but Phoenix stood his ground and held his face in his malevolent glare and evil smirk at the two, though he was stabbing himself in the back to have to lie so harshly.

"I thought so…" Elata continued after she watched Hunter have a panic attack at the news. Hunter looked frantically around to see if she was dreaming, but Jervis' grip was firm so she realized she wasn't asleep, and her eyebrows were in a diagonal, making her face a utopia for worry, stress, heart-break and disbelief. "I've heard enough…Jervis…Lykaios…to the brig, we'll deal with them later." Private was also in a state of shock, so much that as Lykaios dragged him away, his inner, assertive self-let out a blood curdling accusation.

"YOU DIRTY LIAR!" He screamed loud enough that even Sweetie Bell heard them from far below the surface, to which she bit her lower lip as to what was happening. Private was pulled below the deck first and thrashed about the whole time.

Hunter was still unable to control or manipulate any part of her body. Jervis grabbed her tail and just dragged her to the doors leading below deck and thought nothing of it. As he reached the door, Hunter's heart took over and controlled her body for her. She slaughtered the grip he had on her tail and broke free and charge at Phoenix with cracked eyes, but no tears. Phoenix's maniacal look and posture faded as fear swept through his body, but some part of him was telling him not to move. He brought up his flipper to his chest and held it there like a squirrel holds its hands. He closed his eyes and braced for whatever painful thing Hunter was about to do to him, but his guard was for not, and his emotions, futile. Hunter ran up to Phoenix and stopped right in front of him, not moving a muscle. He opened his eyes and put his flipper down when he heard her stopped and looked to see her panting like it was summer. Tears were accumulating in her eyes, and she threw her lips onto his and kissed him in front of the whole crew. Phoenix's eyes grew wide with consternation at the reality of her kissing him then. Now Phoenix was the one who was frozen, and the kissed was over just a few seconds after it started. He stared at Hunter with awe eyes and so wide he could look over an entire ocean with one glance. After Hunter pulled away and broke the kiss, she just stared at him again, but instead of running, her head crashed onto the deck of the boat along with the rest of her body and she began to vociferate without an end in sight. Phoenix's mouth was hung open, and Jervis just walked up to Hunter, grabbed her tail again and completed his earlier task and pulled her blubbery body below deck and out of sight. It was immediately after that Villas walked up to Phoenix's side and whispered,

"Glad we didn't tell her about the plan…?" And he walked off snickering at his joke. Elata then patted Phoenix on the shoulder.

"Come to my cabin, we'll talk…" And she began to walk away, but then stopped and said, "Looks like the Phoenix is all burned out…" And she continued.

_She…but…how? And Hunter…she just…_Phoenix tried to understand in his mind, but he couldn't think straight, so instead, he just when with Elata to the cabin.

**I know that's not how any of you probably wanted their first kiss to go, but I'll give you a hint, that's probably not going to be their official first kiss. Phoenix definitely still love her, and he's got a plan to keep her safe. And now for the questions,**

**Are you mad I took so long to update?**

**Are you mad at Phoenix for his plan?**

**Did you think Captain Elata would remember Phoenix's name?**

**What do you personally think will happen next?**

**Enjoy…well…everything!**


	14. Mutiny! Part 1

**Time for another chapter after a long absence! I know you're all probably itching to find out what happened after Hunter kissed Phoenix in front of everyone, but I assure you it'll be worth the wait, and I plan on being way more focused and responsive than I've been. After all, I can't let my most reviewed story fade away and never be completed, thank you all for making this my most reviewed story ever!**

8,523 Miles

Chapter 14

Mutiny! Part 1

The stunned leopard seal lugged his body up the stairs and into the front door leading into Elata's office on the ship. Never in his life had he been more surprised than what had just happened to him, but the fact that Elata remembered his name threw him for an even bigger loop. In his mind he knew that his plan was wrong and cruel, but he would never let either Private or Hunter get hurt on his watch, he had it all figured out, but after what just happened he wished he'd told them. Once inside the room, Phoenix slapped the door closed with his tail and dragged himself further to the front of Elata's desk while she went around the back side of it and faced him. But she gave him a small scare when she thrust her paw down on the top of the desk, causing a loud noise, and a stern glare coming from her face.

"You think I'm an idiot Phoenix?" She demanded of him.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" He threw back at her, not falling for any mental games she was trying to play.

"You don't know what I'm talking about…" Getting aggravated her said, "This is my boat boy, I know about everything that happens, when it happens. I know all about you and Miss Lip planning on absquatulating as soon as we make port in Antarctica. The second we dock you'll be gone, and we'd be powerless to stop you…WRONG!" She snarled and bore her teeth, but the seal held his ground. "I also know who's involved in this little plot of yours, there's you, Villas, Short Stuff, and your new love interest." This made Phoenix delight, on the inside of course, that she had missed Sweetie Bell. "I knew about the mutiny you were planning from the second it first popped into your head, you know why? Because I know you better than anyone else on this boat. You're the only crew member that I even bothered to remember your real name. Not only that, we both know that you'd never be able to commit a mutiny against me…isn't that right?" She said and walked over to him and began circling around the teenager. His head fell, and he closed his eyes, trying to prevent her from getting into his head. He also hadn't mentioned the plan for mutiny to anyone, and yet she knew. "You'd never be able to commit a mutiny, because you own me your life. Every time someone asks me about this missing claw I avoid the subject…why? Because you asked me not to tell, we know what happened that night. The water was cold, and a zoo was closing, so they shipped all the animals away, but for some reason, they let all the aquatic animals loose in the ocean nearby, and they didn't know the little baby leopard seal couldn't swim in a real current. But who was it…? Who was it that dove in to save the poor thing? And who bit down on my paw so hard that one of my claws throbbed and swelled so badly I had to bite it off because a baby wouldn't let go?" Phoenix confessed in his mind she was right about everything; that was what happened on the night Phoenix joined the crew, not as a straggler, as a survivor. A survivor Elata lost a claw to save. Elata saw the tension in Phoenix growing, and she put his mind to a rest. "So long as those two are on this ship you'll never focus again. Say your good-byes to them, they'll be thrown overboard tomorrow at sea break." This wasn't what Phoenix wanted, but complied. As he turned around to leave, Elata had one last thing to say. "Remember your place here…my son." Phoenix cringed at the statement, but took a deep breath and moved forward with her instructions.

"Yes…mother." And he pushed the door opened and exited the cabin, slamming the door behind him.

Down in the lower decks, Private and Hunter were once again in the brig. Private paced back and forth while Hunter laid down in the back corner, her head resting on the ground and tears still flowing from her eyes to the wooden surface below. The air was still and the room was quiet, so Private thought he'd try to break the silence. "It's not so bad Hunter…I mean, it could be worse." Hunter didn't respond, instead, another voice broke the stillness.

"It can, and it is…" It was Villas, he entered from the darkness with Lykaios. "Elata has given Phoenix a final warning, we don't have much time." Private almost had a heart attack, he said that right in front of Lykaios, but after she saw his panic, she put him to rest.

"Relax little penguin…Villas secretly recruited me for this a while ago. I'm fully up to speed on the plan and ready to execute it at any given time." Private sighed with relief that Lykaios had secretly been on their side the whole time, but he was still nervous.

"But what about Phoenix…? He gave us up to the polar bear!" Villas shook his head at Private, showing he was wrong.

"That was part of the plan Private, we just…didn't tell you." Private's eyes widened at the truth.

"What…?! Why wouldn't you tell us that! You made Hunter and I think we were done for!" But a fifth voice broke in,

"To make it look real…" The voice belonged to the rebel leader, Phoenix. He came down from the top deck and made his way to the cage next to his cat and canine followers.

"Sir..." Lykaios said and nodded to him, to which he nodded back. "We've informed Private of the plan, but we mentioned that…"

"I know…" Phoenix interrupted, "I'm sorry Private…" He began again, "We thought that if we didn't tell you about that part, you'd really be scared, that way Elata didn't pick up on any acting. After all, this plan has to be fool proof to overthrow Elata, she definitely earns her name."

"Well mission accomplished!" Private said with distain and threw his flippers in the air at them. "You made us think we were going to be killed! If you wanted to scare us you succeeded."

Phoenix coward a little, taking all the responsibility and guilt for the incident, "I know…and I'm really sorry for that. But we have bigger problems, Elata knows about our plans and she plans on throwing you and Hunter overboard tomorrow morning." Hearing this, everyone, except Hunter, gasped at the news, "So if we want to go through with the plan, it has to be tonight." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. "Alright then, Lykaios…open the door." And the Arctic Wolf opened the lock to the gate to Private and Hunter's cell and the penguin flipped out while the leopard seal in the back continued to lie motionless. "You three go make the preparations; it's time for mutiny…mutiny most foul…" **(Pirates of the Caribbean Tribute, Long Live Jack Sparrow!) **And with that order, the three of them moved in separate direction to do their designated activity, but Phoenix stayed behind to speak to Hunter. "Hunter…I'm so sorry, I really should've told you. I made a huge mess of things, and I probably made you think I was using you, but I swear I wasn't. You make me feel like a new seal, one with power and control over himself, and I believe you're the most clever, cunning, and beautiful leopard seal ever. I don't expect you to forgive me…but…at least know that I'm sorry." He said every word with his heart, and he even cried a single tear himself during the speech. He turned to leave and went off to do his own part in the plan. Hunter just stayed there, she didn't do anything, she heard every word, but only sniffed back some tears and remained still.

**I love Pirates of the Caribbean! I'm sure someone else does too! But I know what you came for, so here they are!**

**Phoenix thinks of Elata as his adopted mother, does this explain a few things?**

**Was that how you expected Elata loss her claw?**

**Will Lykaios make a good addition to the rebels?**

**Can Hunter forgive Phoenix for what he did?**

**No one is voting on the poll, so I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Have a great day everyone!**


	15. Mutiny! Part 2

**I'll be honest, the story is coming to a close. And, after I'm finished with this one, I have to finish "Better Than This", there's only one chapter left. I made the classic mistake of writing more than one story at once. This impairs one's ability to perform their best on a story, and makes their mind trail. Don't make the same mistake I did, focus on one story at a time. **

8,523 Miles

Chapter 15

Mutiny! Part 2

Phoenix was restless, he had no idea of how'd he'd command a mutiny feeling like his heart was being man-handled. The idea of Hunter hating his guts was enough to make him shed a tear, but he had to be strong and stay awake for this, for today was the day that he would finally attempt the mutiny he's been waiting for against his mother, the captain Elata. Private and the others discreetly made the preparations, and now they were just waiting for Phoenix's signal to begin. It was going to be difficult, as the rest of the crew was on Elata side. Imagine, Phoenix, Private, Hunter, Lykaios, Villas, and Sweetie Bell, against Captain Elata, Jervis, Yazid, Questa, and Bailan…Phoenix had the number advantage, but Elata had the match advantage and battle experience. The mutiny wasn't scheduled to begin until dawn when Phoenix gave the word, but if need be, he'd begin it early, that way he could occupy his mind with something other than how much Hunter distained him at the moment.

He laid there, his eyes dreary, his flippers crossed, and lying on his side. His bed felt as though it shuttered along with him, and he wondered how…how in any possible way, in all the seven seas he's traveled that he now came to call his home that he could make it up to her. His mouth was dry, and so was his heart, her anger towards him sucked the life and emotion out of him, he couldn't even think about the anger his mother had caused his all these years. But then, he shot up and looked out the porthole in his room on the very bottom deck, and the sky was dark blue and orange, with dabs of purple and red, it was like a beautiful painting. Dawn, he was sure of it, action time; he sprung up from his bed and flapped over to Private who was asleep on his hammock.

"Hey…Private…" Private only moaned and rolled over. Phoenix smirked at him; he knew that he'd be reluctant to get up, not a pain. "Private…Private…" He said as he started poking him with his flipper. "Great, by this point Elata's probably awake and waiting for us." He whispered in aggravation. "Private…!" He yelled in a whisper. To that, the penguin shot right up and looked around.

"What…? What happened…? Did I miss the attack…?"

"No…but you're going to if you don't get up right now…" Phoenix told to him.

"Well, fine then, carry on with your business…go wake the others…" Private looked like he was shooing him away.

"I don't need to…I told them when to get up, I was only concerning myself with waking you up." Phoenix seemed like he was scolding him, but he was giggling as he said it, so it was all in good humor.

As he said that he turned around and got off the hammock and headed towards the door, Private flipped off his resting point and followed him up the ladder. As the got up the point to the next lowest level on the ship, the saw the other members of the crew involved in the mutiny starting to get up. At the sight of this, Phoenix shot Private a look with a raised eyelid and a smile, to which Private crossed his flippers and gave him a smirk in return. After the two were finished, Phoenix turned to his front and looked to Villas.

"Preparations are all set Phoenix Sir, but what about the girl?" Villas said, gesturing upwards to the upper deck where Hunter was still sulking.

"Have everyone move up to the main deck, be ready…I'll try to speak to her one last time." As he said that, the leopard seal moved up the ladders and entered the brig, which only had one cell. Below he heard everyone getting ready, and he even heard Sweetie Bell splashing around outside. He moved over to the still open door from the night before, and there she was, in the same position he'd left her in, she hadn't moved. "Hunter…I…I was just…" There was a long pause, he knew she was awake, there was no denying that. "Could you…at least talk to me?" It was a beg, the first he'd done in a long time. "Alright…I guess not…I understand…but…in case this goes overboard…no pun intended…" He wasn't trying to be funny, and the slip up wasn't helping. "I…you should know that I…I lo…I lov…" He sighed, he had to, but he couldn't. "I'm sorry Hunter, I just can't." He said, leaving without saying it, something he'd surely regret later. Hunter turned around and watched him leave, she knew this wasn't going to work, she had a gut feeling. She'd been trying direly hard to forgive him, but the way he scared her, the way he made it seem like he'd thrown her heart on the deck and crushed it, as she now realized, he really did care for her, and he only made it look like he was using her. Hunter couldn't bring herself to follow him, and so she just like him, had to, but she couldn't.

Up on the deck, everyone was gathered and ready. The sun was a bit higher up in the sky, and the blue and purple was replaced with pink and yellow lights. Phoenix looked over everyone, they were all here, all the mutineers. "Alright everyone, this'll be hard to do without Hunter, especially for me…but you all know the plan…"

"As do we…" Not a sound anyone wanted to hear. They turned around and saw Elata with Jervis, Questa, and Bailan on the balcony in front of the entrance to Elata's quarters on the second floor of the top deck. Yazid was hanging from a rope overhead, but both sides were ready. "I have to give you credit young Phoenix. You managed to rise from your own ashes and tame your inner demons; in short…you're actually going through with this. A rebellion, against me, your own mother…?! Oh…I think I'm going to faint…" Elata said all of it with extreme sarcasm, especially the last part about her fainting.

"You are not my mother Elata!" Phoenix, and all his supporters backed him up. "When you rescued me under that cold dark moon all those years ago, I thought you'd be a caring mother, like all bears are supposed to be! But no, you're no bear, you're no Captain, you're not an Exalted One, you don't deserve your own name!"

"Oh yes little one…?" Elata said in a very tenderly maniacal voice. "Kill them…" Elata said slowly. And the two sides of the same crew started to bash. Private and Phoenix went after Elata, Questa and Bailan went after Villas, and Lykaios was forced to fight Jervis and Yazid by herself.

Jervis began to twirl a rope around his head like he was going to lasso a knot around Lykaios' head, but she grabbed the rope after he threw in and used to teeth to gnash it in two. And from just one look at Yazid, bearing her fangs and snarling claws, the little macaca monkey ran away, not really caring if he was Yazid-ing on the deck again. As Yazid ran to hide, Lykaios ran at Jervis howling her vocal vengeance and leaped at him, but he used his thumbs to grab her and hold on to her as she struggled to get at his face.

Villas swatted Questa away with one paw and whip lashed Bailan with his tail. Bailan recovered quickly and flew directly at him again, but Villas, grabbed his wing in his mouth and he spun around, releasing him overboard with a mangled wing. As Bailan landed in the water with a splash, Sweetie Bell surfaced and smiled at him. "You must be…Sweetie Bell?" Bailan said, knowing fully well what was about to happen. Sweetie Bell laughed and dove back down, shooting right back out and launching Bailan into the air and hit him across the boat like a bat hitting a baseball, it was cool looking and painful. Bailan flew across the boat and landed in the water on the other side, he was beaten. Unable to swim or fly with a broken and bleeding wing, Bailan just waited for the sea to claim him.

Back on the ship, Villas had been dodging attacks from Questa the whole time, as he ducked under another of her talon attacks, he noticed something about the way she flies. Then she swooped in again , but this time Villas ducked just enough for her to miss his head, but her talons scrapped his back, causing deep wounds and making him bleed through his thick fur. Roaring in pain, Villas used his energy to spin around and grab her wing with his mouth, just as he did with Bailan, and he then spun around to throw her like he'd done before. As he did, he yelled through his muffed tone, "Hey Sweetie Bell…" And he threw Questa out over the water, "Batter up…!" And Sweetie Bell appeared from below, did a magnificently playful flip and smacked Questa across the boat like before with her tail. Sweetie Bell dove back down under the water as Villas watched Questa fly towards the same place as Bailan, now both of them were down for the count, he never liked them much anyway.

Villas charged Jervis, and the monkey saw him coming and threw Lykaios off to the side and stood straight, just before getting knocked down to the ground by Villas' sheer weight as a snow leopard. Villas was still in pain from the deep cuts on his back which were the price he paid to beat Questa, this was making him weak, and Jervis saw it as a chance to fight back, Lykaios noticed this too, and she wasn't going to let it happen. Lykaios charged Jervis again and bite down on his head, making him scream in pain and raising his head, giving Villas the invitation to bite his neck, crushing the bones and making him paralyzed. Blood loss, and possibly being thrown overboard would kill him in time, Jervis was done for too.

All crew mates were down, only the polar bear captain remained. Phoenix and Private had only kept her occupied while the others dealt with the crew, only making small cuts, or distracting her while they made time for everyone to confront her together. Villas and Lykaios, along with Private and Phoenix had Elata cornered by the wheel up at the helm. Phoenix's inner predator came out as he snarled and bore his teeth, which were surprisingly sharp for an adolescent male leopard seal. Elata smiled and snickered.

"Well done my boy, well done indeed. I congratulate you on making it this far, turning half my crew against me, and even backing me into a corner like this. But your game ends here, I'll swat down each of you like flies…!" She roared and charged Phoenix in particular, to which he turned and ran across the boat to lure her away from his friends. Along the way, Villas got a solid paw swipe to the face, he was unconscious, Lykaios was tripped by Elata and got her chest stomped on, Lykaios had the wind knocked out of her and her ribs crushed, she wasn't moving anywhere. Private moved and got out of the way, flipping up the mast to set up a few ropes for the final phase of the plan. Phoenix let himself be cornered by Elata at the bow of the boat, and she got up on her back legs, standing tall. "This is it Phoenix…I'll really miss you…"

"Don't count on it…" And as Phoenix said that, Private tossed a rope over Elata's head, distorting her for a moment and allowing Phoenix to run past her and push out the walking plank. He got it all the way out and fastened it, making sure it wasn't going anywhere. After that, he ran out on it and stopped at the edge and turned around, Elata was still walking on two legs, and she stepped one foot on the plank, making it crack slightly and forcing it to lean towards the water a little.

"What kind of plan is this young Phoenix? Was this supposed to actually work?"

"It will…" Said another voice, it was Hunter, and it was like stardust was sprinkled down on Phoenix's body. Hunter charged towards Elata and rammed her leg that was still on the solid deck, making her trip and put both feet on the plank. The plank was cracking, it couldn't hold the weight of an adult female polar bear, and Private swung in with a rope and kicked her in the face, moving her further back on the plank and grabbing Phoenix's tail in the time to swing him back on deck. Phoenix then ran at Elata, in which he sprung up and whipped her in the face with his tail, making her stumble back even further over the plank. Once at the tip, and the wood was seconds away from breaking, Elata shook her head and looked back at the animals on the ship, but before she could do anything, Sweetie Bell leapt out of the water and smacked Elata's face with her own tail, making her wave her arms, lose her balance and fall over the plank and into the water.

"Private…full speed ahead…!" Phoenix yelled, and Private made it so, the wind blew, and the penguin held the wheel. "Sweetie Bell…! Get up here now!" And she nodded, diving under and jumping up to land on the deck of the boat.

As they sailed away, Phoenix looked over the back of the boat as they quickly sailed away from where Elata fell in and then quickly resurfaced. Phoenix cringed and took a smear of blood from the side of Villas' head where he'd been struck by Elata and threw a few drops in the water as Elata swam after them. The blood drops would attract sharks, and when the sharks arrived, Elata would be no more. Phoenix wiped his flipper of the blood and watched his former captain and mother try to swim after them with blood-rage in her eyes, but the ship was too fast and the blood in the water stained her fur, in a matter of hours, Elata would be nothing but shark bait, now she too, was finally beaten.

Phoenix turned around and saw that Hunter was helping Private keep the wheel steady, he pulled up to her and tapped on her shoulder, but when she turned around there was only disgust in her face. "Hunter…I…" He tried saying, but it was useless.

"I did it for Private, not you…" And she began to pull away from him, going to give a hand to Sweetie Bell on the deck.

"But…Hunter…I love you…" Private heard, Hunter heard, Lykaios heard, and so did the frightened Yazid hiding in the crow's nest. But Hunter scoffed and left him to his own, his heart crumbling, and his mind feeling like he hadn't been successful at all.

**So the mutiny was successful, but regaining her heart wasn't, that's got to be rough. So there's the mutiny, after such a long and anticipated arrival, and it worked too! The ship is theirs, even though there's only six crew members, one of which is suffering from crushed ribs, oh well, she'll be fine, I'm sure of it.**

**Although the mutiny was successful, did Phoenix truly succeed?**

**Does Hunter not love Phoenix anymore?**

**What is Yazid going to do about his new crew mates?**

**Does Phoenix deserve the title of 'Captain' after what happened?**

**Are you glad Phoenix finally admitted his feelings for Hunter?**

**Keep answering, remember, they're always here, just for you! So long everyone, there's not too many more chapters to this story, it'll be over soon.**


	16. Cold Shoulder

**Guess what…? Not including this one, there's only 2 chapters left! What a shame, I loved this story, I've been working on it for months. Oh well, all great things end eventually, I'm glad everything worked out though. Looks like I have very little time to amend Hunter and Phoenix's relationship, since I know how much you guys love it! I love it too, it's amazing what a couple can do to a story! Anyways…tally ho…!**

8,523 Miles

Chapter 16

Cold Shoulder

"I just don't know what to do Villas! She won't talk to me, she won't listen to me, I'm surprised she even acknowledges my existence anymore. I want her to know how I feel, but all I'm getting is brush offs." Phoenix said to Villas in the main office room that used to belong to Elata. Since they had left Elata for dead in the water, the remaining crew members had sought their new roles on the ship. Villas continued to stay on the wheel, as he had woken up from being knocked unconscious, but as of right now he was acting more like Phoenix's therapist.

"You've apologized many times by this point, right?" Villas asked him, and Phoenix nodded. "Quick question though, I've never had any female relationship interaction in my life, so why did you come to me for this?" He asked.

Phoenix groaned in frustration and left the main office and went out onto the deck. As he walked down the stairs and looked around the boat, he thought about how much the life he knew changed in such a short time. He'd won one battle, but now he had to fight another. His mind was at war with itself every time he glanced at Hunter, her beauty, her grace, her strength, everything about her drove him crazy, and he loved her with all his heart, he just couldn't tell her before because it would've put her in danger. However, now that the danger was over, Phoenix was free to express his true feelings to her, but all she did was judge him based on how he had treated her when he tried to protect her. Phoenix knew this was his own fault, and he could also smell the icy water in the air, Antarctica was drawing close, the long journey was coming to an end. He had such little time to amend his mistakes, because to him, a life with Hunter hating him was no better than the life of a pirate.

Phoenix pulled over to Private who was still gripping the wheel, calling for Villas to come and take his place on the wheel as he should've been. Villas emerged out of the main office room and headed up deck to take the wheel from Private and gave Phoenix a nod, he nodded back and the snow leopard took the wheel. "I'll take this Private, go check on Lykaios. When Elata stepped on her chest, I swear…even I heard something crack…" And Villas shuttered, taking the wheel in his paws and letting Private exit underneath him. Phoenix was about to speak to Private, but Villas spoke out to him again. "I realize this is a tough time for you Phoenix Sir, we all have our bad days, but the crew is in mayhem, Elata is gone and no one has official posts anymore. We're just a bunch of sailors now, no captain, no first, second, or third mates, no deck hands, no navigator, no nothing. However, you are the most qualified to be the captain right now, so I suggest you start acting like one." They were words of wisdom, told in what was probably the rudest way possible. Phoenix smirked at him, even though he knew that he was right.

"In that case…keep steering us south, our destination isn't far. Keep your eyes on the sea, in Antarctic waters…you never know what you might run into." And Phoenix moved himself away from the wheel, trusting Villas, and heading down to check on Lykaios. Pulling up next to Private, Phoenix scanned Lykaios' body, and the damage was terrible. It wasn't a bloody mess, but the bone structure looked bent inwards, causing agonizing pain with the slightest touch. Yet, if she didn't get help from her friends, Lykaios would die slowly and painfully. "How are we going to deal with this?" Phoenix asked Private.

"Don't worry about it Phoenix, Skipper has us do First Aid drills all the time for any kind of injury, I'll have Lykaios patched back up in a jiff, she'll be better in no time. The only catch is she can't move from this spot for a few hours, and she might go through a lot of pain."

"I'd rather that than her dying. See that it gets done Private, let me know if there's anything I can do to help…" Phoenix told Private. As a captain, one must care about their crew, something Elata clearly never did.

"Actually…" Private said tapping his flippers together, like he was about to suggest something stupid. "Hunter did say she needs help with Sweetie Bell…I don't know if it would be a good idea, but…" Phoenix got the idea of what Private was trying to say.

"I understand Private…" And he turned around and headed over to where Sweetie Bell was. He approached her and put a rag over her blowhole, and used his flipper to grab hers and give her strength. "How are you doing Sweetie Bell?" And she looked up to him, only moving her eyes.

"I'm fine Phoenix, but it's really weird being out of the water for so long. I guess it was necessary, had I stayed in the water and Elata would've had me for dinner. I don't regret jumping up on deck, but I won't make a habit out of it." Sweetie Bell smiled, she was a dolphin, she was a mammal, so she could handle being out of the water for extended periods of time. "Thanks for putting the rag over me, Hunter said she'd do that when she came back up, but I guess now she has less work to do."

"Where is Hunter?"

"Oh, she went below deck to get a pail of water. She thought I'd be more relaxed if she poured it over my head. Which, I do have to admit, sounds pretty good right now…" Sweetie Bell dazed off thinking of the watery sensation which would come over her soon, and Phoenix just smiled at her. A clunk was heard behind them and they saw Hunter appearing from below deck with a bucket of water in her mouth. She moved over to Sweetie Bell and saw the rag over her head. She raised her eyelid at it and set the bucket down, and looked at Phoenix.

"You did this…?" And Phoenix nodded to her question, being shaken and nervous to answer her. "Hmm…fine, help me with this bucket, hold that rag in place." He just complied, what else was he supposed to do? Phoenix held the rag while Hunter dumped the bucket of water on Sweetie Bell, making her sigh with relief and relaxation.

It was then that everyone heard Jervis make a noise, and Phoenix was the first over to check it out. Once by Jervis' side, the monkey stared at the seal, his eyes looking like they were expecting something. "Aren't you going to finish me?" He asked in his deep, chimp voice. But Jervis saw in Phoenix's eyes something he hadn't see in Elata's, and it was a new feeling, like a lighthouse was shining its light across a foggy bay towards the beach. It was hope, hope was pulsing from those eyes.

"No, of course not Jervis; you may be Elata's first mate, but you're still a member of this crew. You're not a prisoner, and I have no intentions of treating you like one." It was then that Phoenix took Jervis' arm onto his back and tried carrying him to his quarters. The sight reminded Hunter that Phoenix is a kind and gentle seal on the inside, but her anger and blind fury still resided in her heart from how he had fooled her. However, Hunter being the good seal that she is also took up Jervis' other arm and helped out Phoenix, to which he gave her a smiled, and she grinned back, but only for a moment.

It was then that Yazid swung down from the crow's nest and landed in front of the two seals carrying Jervis, and Phoenix was delighted to see his macaca friend. "Where…where are you taking Jervis?" Yazid asked, nervous that they'd do to him what they did to the others.

"Calm down Yazid, we're taking him into his quarters, he's hurt, and we need to take care of him." Hunter said to Yazid, and Phoenix nodded in agreement with her.

"Oh…well…" Yazid tried saying something else, but Phoenix eased him.

"It's alright Yazid, we aren't going to hurt you. You are still as much a part of this crew as Jervis is…why don't you see if you can help out Private with treating Lykaios' wounds?" Phoenix gave the order like a real leader, calm, serene, and determine to make a difference. Yazid's fear vanished in an instant, for everyone knew Phoenix was no liar. Relax and now ready to continue, Yazid saluted Phoenix and swung up over them using ropes to Private, the ropes were his favorite means of transportation around the ship.

Hunter looked at Phoenix a few times while they dragged Jervis back to his space on the ship, and once they worked him into his hammock on the berth deck, Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief. "He'll be safe here; I'll get Private to work his First Aid magic on him after he's finished with Lykaios." Hunter was proud of Phoenix, her anger was beginning to let up after seeing how well he has been handling things she Elata was taken down, and she thought he had the makings of a great leader.

"I'm proud of you Phoenix…" This surprised him, he didn't expect her to say anything nice. "You are giving orders and doing everything you can to help…just like a captain, not a pirate captain, a real captain…" And she turned around and left the berth deck to return to the top deck. Phoenix grinned, but knew that if he was to correct his mistakes and officially win her back, it'd have to be within the next twenty-four hours.

Private worked his First Aid skills on Lykaios and wrapped her up in rags, she was going to be fine as long as she got plenty of rest. He then used his skills again to mend the broken, crushed bones, and stop the bleeding and got Jervis patched up too, he would be in his hammock for much longer than Lykaios, but he too would make it out okay. Hunter continued to attend to the needs of Sweetie Bell while Phoenix took care of the deep scrapes on Villas' back. It was pretty much a recovery evening for everyone, and all crew members went to sleep exhausted. In the morning, a chilling breeze woke Hunter up from her bed, for she had been sleeping in Phoenix's bed with him like before, and she looked out the porthole and saw many passing ice chunks and floating icebergs and glaciers. The air was much colder too, and Hunter's instincts told her she was home, they had finally arrived in Antarctica. Hunter jumped out of bed, excited to get home and shook Private awake.

"Private…Private…wake up were here…were at Antarctica!" And Hunter hurried out of the room and headed up to the deck. The sky was unseen, for the whole ship was traveling through a thick fog, like when they landed on Elephant Island. The ship was clearly moving, and they were headed for land, so to get back to the ice all they'd have to do was go straight. Private came up and felt the cold winds and shivered.

"Yep, were here alright. I'd know that subzero chill anywhere." And he wrapped his flippers around himself.

"Come on…let's go…" But Private was shocked by Hunter.

"What…? Just like that…? No goodbyes, not even to Phoenix?" Hunter cringed at his name, and shook her head.

"No, no goodbyes…we have to leave now…I can't tell anyone goodbye, it'd be too…" Hunter tried to finish, but thought of everyone's sad faces made her sprout tears.

"I know how you feel…" It was a third voce, and it belonged to Phoenix. They guessed he woke up when they did and followed them up to the deck. "Look…Private…Hunter…if you guys want to leave now, I won't stop you. But…Hunter…I truly am sorry for everything I did…" But still to no avail.

"I don't want to hear it Phoenix…" Hunter said without even looking at him, and jumping over the side of the boat and into the water. Private waddled over to Phoenix and gave him a hug, to which Phoenix tightly hugged back, believing this'll be the last time they meet.

"Sorry Phoenix…I'll always remember you."

"Take care of her Private, for me…"

"Aye aye…Captain…" And with that, Private jumped over the side and swam after Hunter towards the shore, leaving Phoenix and the rest of the crew behind.

**I guess that's it then, Hunter doesn't care about Phoenix enough to even say goodbye. That's got to hurt, at least Private gave him a goodbye hug and wished him well.**

**Is it over between Hunter and Phoenix?**

**What will Phoenix do now?**

**Did Hunter mean what she said?**

**Will there be trouble heading towards the shore for Private and Hunter?**

**There's only one way to find out, I'll see you all later, only 2 chapters left.**


	17. Sealed

**Does anyone know The Reconcile? I do…!**

8,523 Miles

Chapter 17

Sealed

Private could feel he stress and discomfort pulsing from Hunter's body as they swam through the water towards the cold, icy, bone dry shoreline. Every time he glanced over to her to see if she was any better, so only seemed to get worse; her tail swished back and forth like she was swatting something, her strokes were sloppy, like she had her whole train of thought in something other than swimming, and she every so often, she would just randomly scoff and shake her head. After this went on for longer than Private thought was right, just as they passed a floating glacier with the ice of land in sight, Private stopped swimming and floated in the frigid, but he was a penguin, his nature fat and body structure fought the cold like his kin had for generations.

"Hunter…" And she stopped dead in the water as well and began to float. "Hunter…is something wrong?" Private knew the answer was 'yes' without even asking, he just had to ask so that she'd actually answer. Hunter didn't respond, she only held her head down towards the water and sniffled. "Hunter…? Hunter…?" Private started asking frantically. He was concerned for her, and the fact that she wasn't talking made the experience even worse.

"I messed up okay…!" Hunter yelled at him, and then turned right back around and faced the water. "I messed up big time."

The statement was alluring to Private, he figured what it meant, but knowing Hunter, it could've been anything. "You messed up what? It'd be better if you say it out loud." It was true, but Hunter didn't seem like she wanted to talk about.

"I messed it all up…I was dumb, and I had my heart in the wrong place." By this point, it was clear she meant Phoenix and the other crew members. "He was just trying to protect me; he did it for my own good. Had I known and things would've turned out differently, and they might've not gone so well. He risked his own life to assure ours, and so that once it was all over with, he could tell me the truth, but when he did…I just…" Hunter paused, and a tear formed in her eye. "He gave me his heart, he admitted his feelings…but I put it in my mouth and ate it, right in front of him. And now, now I'm never going to see him again."

Private was feeling the pain, that hadn't been apart for very long, but Private did already miss Phoenix and the others, he had become a good friend, and they thought themselves to be fools not to trust him. "Well…it's a big world out there Hunter…you never know…"

"I know I won't see him again…after the way I spoke to him…he's probably already miles away from here. He thinks I want him to go away, but…I made a mistake, and I couldn't see it, I was too angry and swallowed to see it." Hunter wasn't crying, but she looked like she would any second. Private wasn't about to stand for this, he was going to make Hunter do something he should've done while they were still on the ship.

"Hunter…look…" And she picked her head up and turned around. "If you could go back to him, or at the very least have him come back here, and…you could only say one thing to him…what would it be?" Private sounded serious, like he was demanding he give her the correct and only answer.

There was no soul searching, there was no debate, there was hesitation, but that was due to her never saying it out loud before. The words ran up from inside, and it was the final declaration, and the only one she'd ever make. "I'd…I'd tell him that I…that I love him…" As she said 'love', her tears vanished and a smile brighter than the lights shining off the ice bloomed onto her new sprouted face, filling both herself and Private with waves of growing joy ease and serene comfort all around. Private smiled the same way back, and both had realized that that was the key; it was the bond Hunter and Phoenix shared that got them on and off that ship in one piece. "I know it's too late to go back, but…I wish I had told him that, then maybe we would've parted way more…happily."

"Well…where I come from, we would call it…such sweet sorrow."

Both laughed about the Shakespearian quote that Private knew so well. As they laughed, Hunter saw a dark figure under the water, but it looked small, and once she saw it get closer, she noticed it had a thick top and a loose bottom, namely a many wavered bottom, a squid! Hunter gasped, "A squid…!" And she dove under the water to go after the little thing; squid was her favorite after all. She was under for a few seconds by herself before Private shook his head and grinned.

"Oh Hunter…" And he went under after her. He was surprised when he went under. The water was extremely clear, almost like looking through a window. He looked around and saw Hunter in the distance, but she wasn't moving. This made Private curious; he swam over to Hunter to see what the issue was, but when he got behind her, she still didn't move. "Hunter…?" He asked confused, but when he swam in front of her, her eyes were wide with terror, and her bottom jaw was shaking like she being thrown. "Hunter…what's wrong?" Private said, getting terrified himself.

"S-s-s-s-q-q-q-q-u-u-u-u-i-i-i-d-d-d…" She said slowly, shuttering and shaking out every syllable. "S-s-s-s-o-o-o-o b-b-b-i-i-i-g-g-g-g…" Squid so big…? That's was she was scared of? Private stopped worrying and broke down laughing.

"Ha…! A giant squid…!" And he did a roll in the water, as they were still under the surface and randomly talking under the water. "Oh please Hunter…" Private had a hard time talking he was laughing so hard. "There's no such thing as giant squid! A giant squid is just an old penguin's tale our mothers used to tell us to keep us out of the water after dark…" Private was laughing in front of Hunter, while meanwhile, Hunter was frozen with fear, for a dark, silhouetted shadow was rising from the depths, right behind Private, he didn't notice a thing.

"Uh…P-r-r-i-i-v-v-v-a-a-t-t-t-e-e…" Hunter said and tried pointing with her flipper but her flipper was beyond her control. The dark object rose up and floated right behind Private, and he still didn't notice.

"Let me guess…the giant squid is right…" Private saw how the light changed, as if he was standing in a shadow. "…behind…me…" Private gulped, and slowly turned himself around in the water, and there it was, a real giant squid, hungry, and in a very bad mood. The squid roared out sonic waves, exposing its mouth and crushing beak under its tentacles to the two young animals, and all Private thought after the aquatic terror's roar…well he said it, "RUN…!" Hunter looked at him funny,

"What…?" They were underwater, how could they run?

"Really…? Now…?" Private screamed, "Alright fine…SWIM…!" And they shot off towards the shore like they'd been fired from a gun. They swam, but neither dared to look back, they could assume by default the massive cephalopod was chasing them and gaining. The water rushed past them, also feeling like it was cutting them as they dashed towards shore. Private was unaware that Hunter was slower than he was, and so he even the ground between themselves and the predator, Private looked up and saw the surface. "Head towards the surface Hunter…!" And both cut through the water and broke the surface and swam along it.

They didn't stop, slow down, nor did they even look back, but both of them felt the slimy, wet prickles that made up the tentacle of their hunter. The squid rose its head out of the water and head both of them up over the surface, dangling them and almost like it was showing them off. It then thrashed them around, and turned around, it's eyes were under the water, but it's massive head stuck up over the surface. The mantle was shown, like how the killer rears its ugly head up for all to see before feasting on its helpless prey. Hunter knew this was it, after that had happened, all she'd been through with Private, was only to become squid bait.

"FIRE…!" They heard a voice yell from behind them, and a spherical ball shot in-between them and into the squid's mantle, making it instantly dropping the two and falling back into the water. Hunter and Private looked up to see what had happened, and they saw a ship, not just any ship, the same ship as before, their ship. Phoenix was at the bow, staring at the squid thrashing pain above the surface as it's inside meat flew backwards where the cannon ball hit it. But there's no rest for those who try to hurt the people you love, "FIRE…!" He commanded again. Another cannonball, fired by Villas, shot past Phoenix, over Private and Hunter's heads, and into the squid's mantle once more, making it cry a bleaching sound, and continue to flail in pain. "Sweetie Bell…!" Phoenix yelled, and the dolphin jumped out of the water and winked at him.

"Aye aye sir…!" And dove back into the water; she swam past the two other ones and went right up to the squid. "Hey tentafool…! You want some dolphin for dinner instead?" And she waved her tail in front of the squid's monstrous eye. The squid used one of its extra-long tentacles and tried to grab her, but she was much faster and dodged. "Come and get it ugly…!" And she darted back towards the ship, and the squid pursued her. They swam right past the penguin and the seal, like the squid didn't care about them anymore.

"Aim the cannon at the water…wait for my mark…" Phoenix ordered Villas on the cannon, to which the leopard adjusted as instructed and awaited the signal to fire. Sweetie Bell swam like a professional, she darted in and out of all of the squid's attempts to grab her, and she even found time to turn around and stick her tongue out at it. Sweetie Bell was coming in close to the ship, and she got a grin on her face, she knew the plan and was ready to execute it. "Not yet…" Phoenix said calmly, waiting for just the right moment. Sweetie got closer, "Not yet…" And the dolphin sped quicker, almost reaching the ship and getting within jumping distance. "Hold…hold…" And after he said that, Sweetie Bell jumped out of the water, right over the cannon's mouth and over Villas' head and landing on the deck. The squid fell right into the trap, the squid threw its tentacles out at Sweetie Bell in the same direction she jumped, which was right over the cannon, and the cannon was pointed at the water where the squid had surfaced. The time was now, "FIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…!" The battle cry he let loose was heard for miles, and Villas wasted no time in lighting the cannon and blasting the final blow on the giant squid. The cannonball was fired and it shot through the gapping mouth of the squid, smashing its beak to bits and blowing through its body, making terrible tearing sounds and making the whole squid blow as it exited the back of its mantle. Everyone covered their heads, squid meat and other parts flew everywhere, the squid was done, destroyed and obliterated by a well thought out plan, and perfect execution. "Well…" Phoenix started saying after everyone began wiping squid gunk and meat off their faces and bodies, "I know what we're having for dinner tonight…" And the crew members on deck laughed heartily.

Hunter and Private were speechless, first that the crew had come back, and second that they took down one of the most terrifyingly powerful creatures known to land and sea as if it was nothing, they made it look easy! They swam up to the front of the boat and Phoenix pushed a piece of squid flesh off his head and looked down at them, playfully leaning over the side of the boat as he did. "I hope you guys like squid, because there's plenty…" It was a joke, but Hunter was more serious.

"You…you came back?"

Phoenix instantly lost his jokester attitude, but kept a smile on his face. "Actually, I never left…"

"What…? What do you mean…?" Hunter asked him.

"Well, a journey isn't over until it's over. Anything could happen during any amount of time, even during this short distance to your destination. So…I may have…followed you guys…"

"You followed us…? All the way…?" Private asked, confused as to why they hadn't seen him. Phoenix kept looking down at them from the ship, as they were still floating in the water.

"Well…yeah. I thought if Hunter saw me she'd say to go away, so we stayed a safe distance away, and I watched over to you two, just in case anything happened."

It was enough, she was reminded of his good, kind heart yet again. Even when he thought he wasn't wanted, had he not come, Hunter would've been eaten by a giant squid. "So you were like our guardian?" Hunter asked him on high, and he nodded.

"Sweetie Bell…!" He called, and she pulled herself off the deck and back into the water, to which she swam under Private and threw him up and then hit him with her tail up onto the deck, getting caught by Villas, he had to jump very high up to grab him in his paws. As they landed, Villas looked at the bird in his paws and said,

"You're lucky I'm a cat or I never would've made that jump…" Private giggled nervously.

Sweetie Bell then pushed Hunter up with his nose and elevated her above the water, that way she could jump. Hunter thrust herself up to grab the side of the boat, but she didn't make it and started to fall back. Her flipper was caught, by the one and only. Phoenix looked down to her, and she smiled, he then pulled her up on board and smiled back. "That could've been nasty…I'm glad I was here." Phoenix said, showing his full care and concern with it.

"So was I…" Hunter started. "I'm sorry for all I said Phoenix. You really are a better captain than Elata." But Phoenix shook his head.

"I'm not the captain Hunter. We have no captain right now. It's just…us…" And he gestured to the crew.

"I can't see why you're not the captain. You are a true leader Phoenix, you're everything Elata wasn't and more. Bringing you on this boat was the worst thing she ever did for herself, but it was the best thing she ever for the rest of the crew. You give hope to these guys Phoenix. During that short time after Elata defeat, when there was no system at all…you took charge and ordered everyone to do exactly what needed to be done. On top of that you even offered to help in any way you possibly could, if that's not a captain I don't know what is." Hunter's speech was heard by everyone, Private was listening, Villas heard, Yazid caught all of it, and even Sweetie Bell was paying attention from down in the water.

"She's right…" Yazid said, attracting everyone's attention. "You skillfully told everyone what to do and how to do it. Had it not been for you…Lykaios and Jervis wouldn't be in recovery below deck right now, they'd be in their graves." Villas spoke next.

"I agree…you single handedly planned that mutiny, and you've been acting like the captain all this time without even having the title. Phoenix, being a captain isn't about having the title, it's about living up to it, and you've proved you deserve the name without even having it at all." Private had his turn.

"They're right Phoenix…everything you did since Hunter and I came on this ship, you've done to look out for us. You put your own life at risk and stood up to your own adopted mother just for us. We may not agree with the methods of how you get things done all the time, but there's no doubt they work." Sweetie Bell was last to speak.

"I think so too!" And everyone looked down after they heard her, to watch her speak. "In the short time I've been talking to you guys and helping you out, Phoenix…you've been a leader figure that far surpasses anyone else I've seen." Phoenix was still and silent, everyone thought he had the making of a captain, a real captain, not like Elata. Villas smirked a smile and said out loud,

"I decree we make Phoenix our new and official captain! All in favor say 'aye'…" And he waited for the responses.

"Aye…" Yazid said first.

"Aye…" Private said it next which surprised Phoenix.

"Aye…" Sweetie Bell said from down below.

"And aye…" Hunter said last.

Phoenix was speechless, "I guess the decision is unanimous then…" Villas began, "Everyone…Captain Phoenix…! Formerly known as Peepee the Cabin Boy…!" And everyone cheered, and Hunter gave Phoenix a hug. The new captain himself was stunned, he didn't know what to say. He had wanted that title for so long, and now it was his, he had no idea what to do with it. "Well then Cap'n…" Villas said, "What are your orders?" And the whole crew waited in anticipation of his first order as captain.

Phoenix took everything he knew and complied it into one thought, and that thought was the only thing he could do at the moment.

"Let's get you home…" He said to Hunter, and Hunter smiled and shed a tear. "Villas…take the wheel…Yazid…secure the mass…Sweetie Bell…scout the waters ahead, make sure we have no more unexpected guests."

"Aye aye Captain…" Everyone said as they dispersed across the ship.

"What about me and Private?" Hunter said. "We are members of this crew, are we not?" It was a sly grin, but she was right, they were true members of the crew by this point.

"Private…you've had some real combat training in your days, scout ahead with Sweetie Bell. Stay together and look after one another, the last thing I want is someone getting hurt." He gave Private the order.

"Yes sir Skipper…" Private saluted, it was the first time in a long time he'd taken and followed an order from someone other than Skipper, but the term skipper did mean captain of a boat, so it fit perfectly. Private jumped over the side and swam off with Sweetie Bell while everyone else did their jobs.

"What about me…?" Hunter reminded him playfully.

"I need to talk with you…" Captain Phoenix said to his accompany. She smiled and waited for him to say something else. "I still don't know if you forgive me, but…I meant what I said the other day."

"I know you did. And…I shouldn't have left without saying goodbye either. I was really feeling about talking to you the way I did. I'm the one who should be apologizing."

"I don't care who apologizes to who Hunter, I just want to say that…" He paused, he said it once, he can say it again. "I know I said I was using you, but it was only so you thought that I didn't care about you. That way you would be out of Elata's grip. But, by lying, I hurt you deeply, and…I regretted it because…well…I love you." He said it more clearly this time and with confidence. Hunter smiled, and blushed.

"I forgive you Phoenix…and I love you too…" And she started turning beat red, but it didn't matter because the space between their faces was closed quickly by Phoenix, who sealed their love with a kiss, a real, passionate, loving first kiss. Hunter was lost, she loved it, kissing him was her dream since they started liking each other, and now that they were finally do it, under peaceful circumstances, and feeling the bond they'd been fighting for all along, the kiss was everything, and it was nothing sort of perfect. Phoenix pulled away after he felt his heart start beating too fast, and Hunter stared at him, blushing and smiling from side to side. Phoenix let out a happy chuckle, and turned his head towards the helm.

"Full speed ahead…!" To which Villas yelled,

"Aye aye Cap'n…!"

Hunter tucked herself under Phoenix's neck and snuggled with him right there on the deck, and he put his head down over her neck and snuggled right back, hugging and sharing in each other against the bitter air around them. They were young, in love, and reaching the end of a long journey together. What more could the young couple want at that moment than to share yet another kiss…? That was something neither of them hesitated to do as the wind picked up and moved them forward towards Hunter's home. This kiss their second, but still has red and sweet as the first, and to be with one another in that moment as the wind blew past their faces, it was a radiation of happiness so strong, even the other crew members smiled at their Captain's new love.

**Longest chapter in the entire freaking story, but totally worth it! Hunter and Phoenix shared their first real kiss, everyone is friends again, there's no more distraction on board the ship, and Hunter and Private are almost home. The next chapter will be the last, and I think it will be worth the wait, although not as much as this one!**

**Hunter and Phoenix are finally, and officially together. Does this please you?**

**Did you think the dark figure was Elata? Not a giant squid…?**

**Were you waiting for Hunter and Phoenix's first real kiss since they met?**

**Are they meant for each other?**

**These you just have to answer! These are the best questions so far! Haha, whatever…good day everyone! Wasn't the title of the chapter a clever pun?**


	18. Friends Forever

**Sorry that the story is over everyone, but I guess it was going to happen sooner or later. Have a good holiday and New Year!**

8,523 Miles

Final Chapter

Friends Forever

The ship couldn't have moved any slower towards the shore, and the creatures on it were jumpy as ever. Sweetie Bell and Private had returned to the ship after their scouting mission, and the way was clear. Villas guided the ship with a steady paw and made the ship moved in and out of the ice, and then Yazid closed the masts so the wind made the ship come to a halt. The icy shore was near, and all they had to do to get there was go a few more meters, but the ship wouldn't fit, the time had come to say goodbye. Hunter had been by Phoenix's side the whole rest of the trip, her mind was clear and she was sure that everything was going to work out well. Her head was resting under his chin and she was cuddled up into his chest, and the two never parted the whole way.

When the ship finally did stop, Hunter and Phoenix picked their heads up and Private came over to them, who were still standing at the bow of the ship. Private looked at them, and the effects of the situation were already having an effect on him. "Well…" He started, "I guess this is our stop."

"Yeah…" Hunter said, but her voice seemed drained. "I have to say…when we first got on this boat. I wanted nothing more than to get off as quickly as possible, and now I don't want to leave." Phoenix was happy she'd grown fond of the crew, but her road trip was about getting her home, so he'd make sure of that.

"Hunter, everyone has to go home at some point. But…I do wish you…" He took a deep breath and sighed. "I do wish we had spent more time together."

"I do too…the three of us…we make a good team." Hunter said and looked to her two new boys. The rest of the crew played no part in the conversation, it was one that belonged to them and only them, to go in would be rude.

"I can't believe we actually traveled 8,523 miles together…seemed like only yesterday we were flung from Kowalski's catapult." Private gave his input. Phoenix chuckled; he wished he'd seen that.

"Private…your road trip together isn't over yet. Only this part of it is, you still have a ways to go, no matter how short it may be." He reminded them that according to him, the journey isn't over until it's over.

No one wanted to say it, but it was inevitable, the hard truth was going to come up at some point. "Well…I guess we'd better go, if we don't we might end up not leaving." Private said it, and they knew he was right.

Phoenix pulled Private into a long and brotherly hug, he was going to miss the little guy far more than any other friend. "I'll miss you Private…you may just be a private, but on this ship…you're a real hero." Private smiled, and nodded. Private and Phoenix stopped hugging and Phoenix turned to Hunter. "Hunter…don't fall for any other seal guys while I'm gone."

Hunter smiled as well, he was such a tease, and she'd miss that. "You know I won't. Those boys where I live don't have a thing on you, you mister are one of a kind." Hunter said and poked him on the chest and put her snout close to him. He blushed like he always had when she got near him and he got water in his eyes.

"I love you Hunter…don't forget it…"

"I love you too…my fiery Phoenix…and don't you worry about a thing…I'll never forget." The two came in, and they kissed, one last time. The fire in their souls burned, and the water beneath them crashed; Private and the crew stared on, such sweet sorrow indeed. The kiss came to an end, as all great things must, and Private and Hunter walked over to the side of the boat and prepared to jump. Hunter turned around and looked at Phoenix, and then to the rest of the on deck crew. "Goodbye everyone…! I won't forget you guys!" And everyone smiled and waved back. Private did the same, and then the two jumped off the boat for the last time.

Phoenix returned to the bow of the ship and watched them swim ahead and onto the frozen chunks of ice, one of which he saw Private and Hunter jump on, and after which he heard them speaking to each other, but couldn't make out what they said. Villas came up behind the young captain and tapped his shoulder. "So…our first Pirate Quest is a go…a success! Where does the wind take us now Cap'n…?" Villas was eager to find out, and now that they had a real captain, their adventures would be far more enjoyable. Phoenix got a glimmer in his eye as he watch Private and Hunter jump into the water with Private on Hunter's back, and he could only think of one thing.

"Set a course for the Central Park Zoo…I've heard a lot about a few penguins in these last few weeks. I kind of want to meet them." New York City, what better place to go?

Villas, the new first mate, saluted his superior and said one last time, "Aye aye…Captain Phoenix…" And he returned to the wheel. Phoenix bowed his head to Villas as he walked away, this new life…it was everything he wanted.

On the submarine with the other three penguins, they were ready to blast Julien out of the sub and leave him for dead out in the water, they couldn't take anymore. Rico tried to remain focused on the radar, and Kowalski took care of mechanical issues, but Skipper rested his head on his flipper while just sitting in his chair I the center of the control room. Rico made a goofy noise attracting Skipper's attention, and Rico pointed to what was land on the signal.

"Sweet mother of baby birds…! We have entered the heart of a no-penguin zone." After taking in the fact that they had survived all these days with Julien causing havoc, Skipper gave himself a face flipper and said out loud, "Well…I bet Private and that She Predator had an easier time getting here than we did…"

The End

**Well…I have nothing to say. Thank you all for the encouragement and enthusiasm throughout this story being written, and also for all the reviews! Enjoy my future works if you're a fan, and always give support to other authors like you've all done for me. And just like before…the end…goodnight everyone! **


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